A “diverted” measure to ward off foreign environmental activists and “radicals”? The Ministry of the Interior is accused of multiplying the “administrative prohibitions of territory”, initially planned for jihadists, in order to prevent European citizens from demonstrating in France. At the end of March, a group of Swiss environmentalists took the road to Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), for a weekend of protest against “megabasins”, at the call of the Uprisings of the Earth, since dissolved by the government.
The day before the big demonstration, they are arrested during a roadside check. When Lou (first name changed) hands his card to the gendarmes, “something appears on their screen”, he says. “You are not supposed to be on French territory,” he is told. The 24-year-old activist discovers that he has been the subject – since the day before – of an “administrative ban on territory” because his presence in France “would constitute a threat”, he is informed.
The demonstrators, “foreign terrorist fighters”?
He will not know more but will spend four nights in a cell. Deported by plane, handcuffed and escorted by three police officers, to Geneva airport, he was handed over to the Swiss police who contented themselves with accompanying him on the way out. “They tell me ‘we have nothing against you, have a nice day'”. The measure that targeted him came from an anti-terrorism law of November 2014, then intended to prevent the departure to Iraq and Syria of young French candidates for jihad.
Added to the text during its examination, the ban on “entry” into French territory targets “foreign terrorist fighters”. It can be pronounced against a national of a country of the European Union “when his presence in France would constitute, because of his personal behavior, from the point of view of public order or security, a real, current and sufficiently serious threat for a fundamental interest of society”.
A “liberticidal” device?
And it must be motivated, except “if considerations relating to the security of the State oppose it”. This “very restrictive” measure only targeted “Islamist terrorists”, assures Camille Escuillié, lawyer in foreign law. Several lawyers, however, accuse the government of abusing this “liberticidal” device, reserved for “extremely dangerous” people, to exclude its political opponents, summarizes one of them, Camille Vannier.
In early June, Gérald Darmanin announced on Twitter “17 bans” against “ultra-left members from abroad” in Paris, for the tenth anniversary of the death of anti-fascist activist Clément Méric killed under the blows of ultra-right skinheads. Two weeks later, the Minister of the Interior was pleased that “96 foreign nationals, known to the services” had been “turned back to the border” before a demonstration against the Lyon-Turin TGV link.
Questioning the “legality” of these measures
The ministry has “always used this tool in the context of the prevention of terrorism” but also “for a long time to prevent public order: when risky demonstrations are planned, the participation of violent activists from abroad is detected”, assures a security source interviewed by AFP. “And always in an individual and targeted way”.
An assertion that leaves skeptics Mes John Bingham, Fayçal Kalaf, Amid Khallouf, Alexandre Maestle and Camille Vannier, who are preparing appeals for around 25 Italians who are inadmissible, in the hope that a judge will recognize the “illegality” of these measures. Lucas is one of the “Italian nationals” turned back at the border before the demonstration against the TGV line. The young man, who studies in Italy, is however French. He was in vain brandishing his identity card in front of the gendarmes, nothing helped.
Repeals the day before the trials
He challenges this astonishing inadmissibility before the administrative court. But the day before the hearing, the Interior repeals the measure, and the chances of discussing the subject in court. “It appears from information collected subsequently that Mr. Lucas X is a French national”, is it written in this document consulted by AFP.
“This casts doubt on the” intelligence work “done upstream”, squeaks his lawyer, John Bingham, suspecting arrested “taken opportunely at the border”. Questioned by AFP, the Ministry of the Interior indicates to target people according to the “information” gleaned from them and their “background”. But the decrees consulted by AFP are strangely identical, apart from the names and dates of birth…