Highlights: On Saturday 6 May, some 600 ultra-right activists demonstrated in Paris to mark the 29th anniversary of the death of one of their own. The left violently denounced this demonstration, accusing the government of "double standards" The Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin announced that he had "instructed the prefects" to issue prohibition orders when activists or collective of the extreme right or ultra- right will file declarations of demonstrations. "We will let the courts decide whether the case law will allow these demonstrations to take place," he added.

After an authorized march of several hundred activists on Saturday, May 6, which provoked strong criticism on the left and that Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne herself deemed "shocking", the government...

France: In the face of controversy, the government calls for a ban on ultra-right demonstrations

On Saturday 6 May, some 600 ultra-right activists demonstrated in Paris to mark the 29th anniversary of the death of one of their own. AFP - EMMANUEL DUNAND

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After an authorized march of several hundred activists on Saturday, May 6 that provoked strong criticism on the left and that Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne herself deemed "shocking", the government will now ban all ultra-right demonstrations.

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Four days after the demonstration of 600 ultra-right activists and the controversy that followed, the government finally decided to crack down. In front of the deputies, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin announced that he had "instructed the prefects" to issue prohibition orders when activists or collective of the extreme right or ultra-right will file declarations of demonstrations. "We will let the courts decide whether the case law will allow these demonstrations to take place," he added.

While the "casserolades" against the pension reform are regularly banned by the prefects, the left has been indignant for two days that these hundreds of ultra-right activists of the May 9 Committee, the majority of whom had their faces hidden, were able to demonstrate Saturday in Paris. These demonstrators who wanted to mark the 29th anniversary of the death of a far-right activist, Sébastien Deyzieu, who died accidentally in 1994, displayed black flags marked with the Celtic cross and chanted, at the end of the rally, "Europe youth revolution", the slogan of the GUD (Union Defense Group).

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Earlier on Tuesday, at a press conference in Matignon, Elisabeth Borne said she was "shocked" by the images of this demonstration, but she recalled that there was "no reason" to ban it, taking up the arguments of the Paris police prefecture (see box). "There is a right to demonstrate that is guaranteed and we can only go back on this right when there are good reasons," for example "risks of disturbance to public order," said the head of government. "It turns out that there was no identified risk," she continued, explaining that this demonstration had already taken place in past years without disturbing public order.

'Double standards'

But the left violently denounced this demonstration, accusing the government of "double standards". In the morning, the president of the group La France insoumise Mathilde Panot regretted the "total silence" of the government on this demonstration of "neo-Nazis", accusing the executive of "letting the far right prosper". His rebellious colleague, MP Aurélie Trouvé, more broadly stressed the "relative impunity" of these groups, referring to the case of several people "seriously attacked" Gare du Nord "10 days ago" by "neo-Nazis", including his parliamentary attaché, who had several days of interruption of working time.

It is not because the enemy is silent and walks in step without overflowing that he is not dangerous " said Green MEP Francesca Pasquini in the hemicycle. She also pointed out that former treasurers of Marine Le Pen's micro-party had participated in the parade. But the boss of the deputies of the National Rally defended Tuesday to be "close" to these people, and recalled that it is forbidden to march masked: "These provocations can not be tolerated," she said.

According to Mediapart, Saturday's ultra-right demonstration ended with an "Aryan rock" concert in Saint-Cyr-l'École (Yvelines), in a room called Simone Veil, the former Minister of Justice, survivor of the Holocaust. The organizers had pretended to want to celebrate a "birthday", according to the town hall, which told Agence France-Presse that it would send a report to the prosecutor of the Republic of Versailles.

A right guaranteed by the Declaration of 1789

The right to demonstrate is not enshrined in the Constitution, but is guaranteed by article 10 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 and article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The first provides that "no one shall be disturbed for his opinions, even religious ones, provided that their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law". The second that "everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers." Consequently, a demonstration cannot be banned on the grounds of a particular political orientation.

If a demonstration has been duly declared, in order to issue a prohibition order, "two conditions" must be met, according to the article of the 1935 decree-law. There must be "a real danger of serious disturbances" and "the non-existence of any other effective means of maintaining public order".

France: In the face of controversy, the government calls for a ban on ultra-right demonstrations

France: In the face of controversy, the government calls for a ban on ultra-right demonstrations

'Double standards'

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