The use of a drone to monitor this weekend’s rally in Rouen is not justified, ruled the administrative court of the city. On Friday, he suspended a prefectural decree which planned to frame a protest against the motorway bypass project east of Rouen using drones. The magistrate considers that in the state of the investigation, the prefect “does not justify (…) the need to use cameras installed on aircraft”.
According to the organizers, the rally in Léry (Eure) is intended to be “at the same time family, festive, naturalistic, instructive and determined to affirm our opposition to the destructive project of motorways east of Rouen”. To justify this decree, “the prefect of Eure considered that the planned gathering was likely to cause serious disturbances to public order”, recalls the judge.
The fear of a second Sainte-Soline
The prefect was referring to the very violent clashes that took place during the demonstration on March 25 and 26 in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), after the appeal launched in particular by the collective “The uprisings of the earth”, also co-organizer of the festival “Des sticks in the roads”.
The prefect considered it “necessary”, given the size of the area to be secured, the characteristics of the site, “to have a wide-angle vision to limit the commitment of forces on the ground”, recalls the magistrate. “However, it follows from the investigation (…) that this festival is presented as (…) family”, underlines the judge. “The mere circumstance that it is co-organized by the collective “The uprisings of the earth” (…) is not enough to characterize the possibility of the occurrence of serious disturbances to public order”, considers the judge.
The use of drones has recently been the subject of several administrative appeals. Authorized by the administrative court of Paris for the procession of May 1, the administrative court of Rouen suspended the perimeter and the hours of use of drones during the parade of May 1 in Le Havre. On May 16, the Council of State must examine an appeal against the decree published on April 20 by the government, relating to the use of drones by the police and gendarmes.