Top court rules France cannot ban pro-Palestinian rallies outright
France's top administrative court ruled on Wednesday that demonstrations in support of Palestinians cannot be categorically banned, but should be considered on a case-by-case basis. Amid the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas, the interior ministry had forbidden pro-Palestinian rallies on the grounds of public order – but activists argued that the ban violated the right to freedom of expression.
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In the wake of Hamas's attacks on Israelis, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin instructed local authorities on 12 October not to authorise pro-Palestinian protests, saying they were "likely to generate disturbances to public order".
The Conseil d'Etat, or Council of State, which rules on matters of government policy, was asked to overturn the order by a French pro-Palestinian association.
The Palestine Action Committee, which campaigns for self-determination for Palestinians, said the interior ministry's instructions infringed on the right to peaceful protest.
The court did not uphold the group's complaint, but stressed in its ruling that only local authorities can decide whether to ban a rally connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "whichever side it aims to support".
However, it judged that the interior minister had not sought to ban pro-Palestinian rallies outright but had since clarified that he was referring only to gatherings that publicly celebrated the terror attacks by Hamas.
Freedom of expression
At a hearing on Tuesday, a lawyer for the Palestine Action Committee, Vincent Brengarth, called the order "a serious attack on freedom of expression".
Calling it a blanket ban without limits on where and when it should apply, he argued that preventing people protesting about a certain cause was unprecedented in France – while pointing out that the government failed to specify what exactly that cause was.
Representing the interior ministry, Pascale Léglise, its head of civil liberties and legal affairs, insisted that the order was simply guidance for local authorities who should continue to provide "detailed justifications" for any decision to ban protests on their territory.
She warned that such rallies might provide extremists with a forum for hate speech, noting that hundreds of complaints of anti-Semitic abuse had been filed in France in the ten days since the Hamas attacks, and suggested that France and Germany had a particular duty to protect their Jewish populations "because of history".
Authorities in several German cities have banned pro-Palestinian gatherings on the grounds of preventing public celebration of the Hamas attacks and calls for further violence.
Unlike France, however, Germany did not issued nationwide orders and has continued to permit some rallies in solidarity with Palestinians.
Similar demonstrations have also taken place in several other European countries.
Protesters arrested
An estimated 3,000 people gathered for an unauthorised rally in central Paris last Thursday to proclaim support for Palestinians and denounce the Israeli government's response to the Hamas assault.
Police used tear gas and water cannon to break up the protest, with ten people arrested.
A second demonstration in the capital on Saturday led to another 19 arrests and more than 750 bookings for lesser offences, while protesters also rallied in Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lille and other French cities.
French activist group CAPJPO-Europalestine has called for another rally in Paris this Thursday.
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