The Cannes Film Festival will again be placed under high security this year. Beyond the thousand police, gendarmes and security agents mobilized to supervise the 76th Cannes Film Festival, the authorities will be able to use drones. The prefecture of Alpes-Maritimes has issued an order authorizing their use from 16 to 27 May 2023.
For your safety, with @prefet06's authorization, the #PoliceNationale will conduct drone overflights during the #Cannes International Film Festival, from May 16 to 27, 2023. #Protéger pic.twitter.com/WlI70vJUGq
— National Police 06 (@PoliceNat06) May 15, 2023
A decision justified by the desire to prevent "attacks on the security of people and property", in the face of "possible mobilizations of demands", says the document cited by France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Drones can thus be used to prevent "risks of aggression, theft or trafficking of weapons, human beings or drugs, as well as the protection of public buildings and facilities," says the prefecture.
A sector defined by the authorities
In detail, the decree provides for a limited perimeter for the overflight of drones. The sector in question will be bounded in particular by the Albert Édouard pier, the Favre et Bret promenade, the boulevard de la Croisette, the Palais des Festivals and the Alexandre III bridge.
See alsoCannes Film Festival: here are the films selected for the official selection
In recent weeks, the prefecture of Alpes-Maritimes had validated the use of drones, in support of the police in the district of Moulins in Nice, after a resurgence of violence related to drug trafficking, recalls Nice-Matin. Drones had also been used in recent days to monitor the Franco-Italian border from Menton to Breil-sur-Roya.
The use of drones by law enforcement agencies contested
The use of drones, in support of the police, remains contested by many collectives and associative actors, such as the Association for the Defence of Constitutional Freedoms (Adelico). The Council of State is also due to examine on Tuesday an appeal calling for the suspension of the controversial decree authorizing the use of these small remote-controlled aircraft equipped with cameras, in particular for the maintenance of order.
The Adelico has seized in summary proceedings the highest administrative court asking it to suspend this decree of April 19 allowing the processing of data from images from cameras installed on drones. Concretely, this text authorizes police, gendarmes, customs and military in certain cases to use these devices for "the prevention of attacks on the safety of people and property in particularly exposed places" or for "the security of gatherings" on public roads.
It is in particular under this decree that prefectures had taken orders for the surveillance of May 1st parades by drones, in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux and Le Havre in particular. For Adelico, this decree "carries by its very existence considerable infringements of the right to respect for private life, the right to the protection of personal data, the freedom to come and go and the freedom of demonstration".
