The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned France this Thursday for the use without legal basis of a police trap during a demonstration in 2010 in Lyon, considering that there had been violations of freedoms of circulation, assembly and expression.
This is the first time that France has been condemned for this police practice of surrounding demonstrators, according to a source within the Court.
Auray and others v. judgment
France - encirclement of the applicants by the police, who were prevented from taking part in a demonstrationhttps://t.co/OQCybOiQ87#ECHR #CEDH #ECHRpress pic.twitter.com/N0gFVrqDvV
— ECHR CEDH (@ECHR_CEDH) February 8, 2024
The ECHR notes, however, that if the use of a police trap was devoid of a legal framework at the material time, almost 15 years ago, the Ministry of the Interior has since published a new national plan for maintaining order, in December 2021, which governs this technique.
A demonstration in Lyon in 2010
The case concerns the encirclement of the applicants, a dozen people, for several hours by the police on Place Bellecour in Lyon, on October 21, 2010, during a demonstration against a bill on the pension reform.
“Any measure restricting” the freedoms of movement, expression and peaceful assembly, guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, “must be provided for by law”, recalls the court which sits in Strasbourg in a press release.
Also readPension reform: are “traps” really prohibited during demonstrations?
The ECHR, which "infers that the use by the police of the technique of encirclement was not, at the date of the events, provided for by law", consequently notes several violations of the convention, including those relating to freedom of movement, assembly and association.
The applicants' lawyer, Me Patrice Spinosi, welcomed "a victory in principle which demonstrates that the use of the practice of
traps
or
encirclement
(...) was illegal in France before the entry into force of the national plan of maintaining order in December 2021.”
“According to the ECHR, the fact that this practice is now regulated does not amount to a free hand for the police.
She judges that the disproportionate use of
netting
is likely to undermine not only the freedom to come and go but also freedom of expression,” Mr. Spinosi further analyzes.