Urgently referred by an association, the judge of the Council of State today rejects the appeal filed urgently against the telegram from the Minister of the Interior concerning the ban on demonstrations in support of the Palestinian cause. After having clarified the scope that the minister intended to give to this telegram with approximate wording, the judge recalls that it is up to the prefects alone to assess whether there is reason to prohibit a demonstration locally based on the risks of disturbances to public order. No ban can be based solely on this telegram or on the sole fact that the demonstration aims to support the Palestinian population.
On October 12, the Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories sent a telegram to the prefects indicating that “pro-Palestinian demonstrations” must be prohibited because of the disturbances to public order that they are likely to generate.1. The Palestine Action Committee association asked the judge of the Council of State to urgently suspend this text taken by the minister.
If the judge regrets the approximate wording of this telegram, he notes that the representatives of the State at the hearing, but also the public declarations of the minister, have clarified his intention: to remind the prefects that it belongs to them, in the exercise of their powers, to prohibit demonstrations of support for the Palestinian cause publicly justifying or valorizing, directly or indirectly, terrorist acts such as those which were committed in Israel on October 7, 2023 by members of the Hamas organization .
The summary judge of the Council of State recalls that it is up to the prefects alone to assess on a case-by-case basis and under the control of the administrative judge whether there is reason to prohibit a demonstration with a direct link to the Israeli conflict. -Palestinian, regardless of which side it aims to support. The prefects cannot legally decide on a ban by the sole reference to the telegram transmitted by the minister or on the sole ground that the demonstration in question aims to support the Palestinian population. On the other hand, in the current context, marked by strong international tensions and the resurgence of anti-Semitic acts in France, demonstrations of support for Hamas, an organization targeted by the fight against terrorism at the European level, or which promote or justify attacks terrorist attacks such as those which were perpetrated on October 7, are likely to cause disturbances to public order, as indicated in the telegram.
For these reasons, the judge of the Council of State considers that the telegram addressed to the prefects does not constitute a serious and manifestly illegal attack on freedom of demonstration and freedom of expression and rejects the request of the association Comité Action Palestine.
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1 Telegram from the Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories dated October 12, 2023 relating to the consequences of the terrorist attacks suffered by Israel since October 7, 2023