During the examination of the region's 2022 budget in mid-December, the executive had taken up and voted on an amendment from the LR and related group aimed at increasing by 300,000 euros the financial support for the municipal police so that they equip themselves with drones.

To obtain the suspension of this "illegal" financing according to him, the communist group, supported by La Quadrature du Net, "now has the support of the Constitutional Council", underlined Tuesday its lawyer Jean-Louis Péru during a conference of hurry.

Last week, the Elders indeed challenged the possibility given to the municipal police to use drones.

The Council has however validated most of the measures on the supervision of the use of drones by national police officers, gendarmes or customs officers, voted in December in the law on criminal responsibility and internal security.

On Wednesday, the elected Communists had seen their request for interim relief rejected by the administrative court of Montreuil on the grounds of the lack of urgency.

But it "will be quite possible to redo a referral" when the regional council will vote on the allocation of this funding "in a few weeks", said Bastien Le Querrec, member of La Quadrature du Net.

The decision on the merits is not expected for months.

"We can hope that the majority of the regional council (...) will go back and not execute this decision", estimated Me Péru.

Valérie Pécresse, LR candidate in the presidential election, "is drawing up her security project for the country in her Ile-de-France laboratory", lambasted the president of the communist group, Céline Malaisé.

"The last six months have been marked by an acceleration of regional measures likely to undermine individual freedoms and the law", say the elected Communists, who also denounce Valérie Pécresse's desire to use artificial intelligence in Ile-de-France transport and its project for a supervision center for high school video surveillance cameras.

"The region is not competent in terms of security", recalls in a separate press release La Quadrature du Net, for which the Ile-de-France right "does not stop at any illegality to advance its mass surveillance projects".

Contacted by AFP, the region did not want to comment on the legal action by the communist group or on the decision of the Constitutional Council.

"We must give more resources to the municipal police and drones are part of it", she however underlined.

© 2022 AFP