The health status still imposes a few restrictions to the French. And the Council of State has decided to make understanding by indicating, on Monday 6 July, it upheld the prohibition of gatherings of more than 5 000 people for the moment. It has, however, taken the decision to suspend the decree which established a prior authorization demonstration. Both of these measures have been made so that the administrative judge had been seized by several trade unions. In regards to the prior authorization, he considers it “a serious doubt” on the fact that this new procedure (authorization), which was introduced in a decree of 14 June, ” does not bear a disproportionate interference with the freedom to manifest one “.
On 13 June, the Council of State had already suspended the prohibition general and absolute to manifest that arose as a result of the decree of may 31, prohibiting gatherings of more than ten people. Following this suspension, the Prime minister Edouard Philippe had, the next day, modified the decree to provide that this prohibition does not apply to events authorized by the warden in respect of so-called ” barriers “. But this decree was again attacked by several trade unions and associations (CGT, Force ouvrière, Solidaires, FSU, Unef, Syndicat des avocats de France, Syndicat de la magistrature and the Right to Housing).
inverted logic, in which the Council of State said no
In its order, the court notes that, in normal times, the events on the public highway are subject to a “reporting obligation” to the authorities. The prefect can then ” ban gatherings that may disturb the public order, for example if it considers that the sanitary precautions prescribed are insufficient “.
The decree of June 14, ” led to reverse this logic, since any event is prohibited as long as the warden has not permitted “. In addition, the decree does not provide a time limit for the prefect, renders a decision, which may prevent the organizers to seize the judge in a timely manner. On the other hand, the judge considers that the prohibition of gatherings of more than 5 000 persons, which remains unchanged in the decree of may 31, ” remains justified in the light of the health situation at this day.”
