Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.
EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Briefed” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.
Find the full transcript below:
In France, the Senate has just adopted a draft bill that could severely restrict the right to protest. The text still has to go through the National Assembly, but it stands a good chance of becoming law.
Is Europe slowly killing the right to protest?
Once again, a draft bill has been adopted by the French Senate, with the full support of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party.
The bill was introduced this summer. Its stated aim is to crack down on violent protesters and make them pay for the damage they cause. But it goes much further than that.
The proposed text targets not only violent protesters responsible for causing damage, but also people who are simply present nearby. They could face fines of up to €10,000, even if they haven’t committed any criminal offence. Simply because they stayed there after the police ordered them to disperse.
This shifts the burden onto people who may not have committed any offence, while relieving the authorities of the difficulty of identifying the actual perpetrators.
But opponents argue that this seriously undermines the right to protest. According to Olivier Cahn, a professor of criminal law quoted by the newspaper Le Monde, the wording leaves considerable room for arbitrary interpretation.
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Europe’s youth take to the streets as the post‑war promise of a better life breaks down
In an opinion piece also published in Le Monde, several public figures warn that protesters could find it impossible to prove that they didn’t hear a police order to disperse. In many cases, such warnings simply aren’t heard, either because they aren’t loud enough or because they were never given in the first place.
The senators have made the bill even tougher by adding a six-month prison sentence for anyone taking part in a demonstration that hasn’t been authorised by the authorities.
In some cases, the authorities could even seize part of people’s social benefits once they have identified them as offenders. The Senate has gone as far as proposing to evict them from social housing.
All of this has drawn strong criticism from civil society organisations and left-wing movements. They fear that the bill will discourage people from taking part in peaceful demonstrations because of the risks involved.
In the opinion piece I mentioned earlier, the authors even draw a parallel with George Orwell’s novel 1984.
France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, however, believes that the bill has actually been improved by the senators.
So that’s the situation in France. What about the rest of Europe? Well, let’s just say that a similar trend can be observed almost everywhere.
Read more
Europe’s youth asked for hope – but politicians just offer fear and hate
In 2024, Amnesty International published a major report examining the right to protest in 21 European countries. Its findings pointed to a clear deterioration in the conditions for exercising this right.
In eight countries, legislation restricting the right to peaceful protest has been introduced in recent years. These are France, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and the UK.
The report’s authors also found that, across all the countries analysed, protesters are frequently labelled as terrorists, criminals, foreign agents, anarchists or extremists.
People of colour face systematic discrimination in at least seven countries. Climate activists are targeted in almost every country covered by the report.
LGBTQ+ people, women, children and people with disabilities also face discrimination in several countries.
All of this, combined with police violence reported in many countries in recent years, is raising concerns among human rights organisations.
In France, they are now hoping that members of the National Assembly will take a less restrictive approach to dealing with protesters. Let’s see how the debate unfolds in the coming months.
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Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.
EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Briefed” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.
Find the full transcript below:
In France, the Senate has just adopted a draft bill that could severely restrict the right to protest. The text still has to go through the National Assembly, but it stands a good chance of becoming law.
Is Europe slowly killing the right to protest?
Once again, a draft bill has been adopted by the French Senate, with the full support of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party.
The bill was introduced this summer. Its stated aim is to crack down on violent protesters and make them pay for the damage they cause. But it goes much further than that.
The proposed text targets not only violent protesters responsible for causing damage, but also people who are simply present nearby. They could face fines of up to €10,000, even if they haven’t committed any criminal offence. Simply because they stayed there after the police ordered them to disperse.
This shifts the burden onto people who may not have committed any offence, while relieving the authorities of the difficulty of identifying the actual perpetrators.
But opponents argue that this seriously undermines the right to protest. According to Olivier Cahn, a professor of criminal law quoted by the newspaper Le Monde, the wording leaves considerable room for arbitrary interpretation.
In an opinion piece also published in Le Monde, several public figures warn that protesters could find it impossible to prove that they didn't hear a police order to disperse. In many cases, such warnings simply aren't heard, either because they aren't loud enough or because they were never given in the first place.
The senators have made the bill even tougher by adding a six-month prison sentence for anyone taking part in a demonstration that hasn't been authorised by the authorities.
In some cases, the authorities could even seize part of people's social benefits once they have identified them as offenders. The Senate has gone as far as proposing to evict them from social housing.
All of this has drawn strong criticism from civil society organisations and left-wing movements. They fear that the bill will discourage people from taking part in peaceful demonstrations because of the risks involved.
In the opinion piece I mentioned earlier, the authors even draw a parallel with George Orwell's novel 1984.
France's interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, however, believes that the bill has actually been improved by the senators.
So that's the situation in France. What about the rest of Europe? Well, let's just say that a similar trend can be observed almost everywhere.
In 2024, Amnesty International published a major report examining the right to protest in 21 European countries. Its findings pointed to a clear deterioration in the conditions for exercising this right.
In eight countries, legislation restricting the right to peaceful protest has been introduced in recent years. These are France, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and the UK.
The report's authors also found that, across all the countries analysed, protesters are frequently labelled as terrorists, criminals, foreign agents, anarchists or extremists.
People of colour face systematic discrimination in at least seven countries. Climate activists are targeted in almost every country covered by the report.
LGBTQ+ people, women, children and people with disabilities also face discrimination in several countries.
All of this, combined with police violence reported in many countries in recent years, is raising concerns among human rights organisations.
In France, they are now hoping that members of the National Assembly will take a less restrictive approach to dealing with protesters. Let's see how the debate unfolds in the coming months.