In France, the growing concern of defenders of individual freedoms

More than thirty dissolutions of political groups or associations since 2017; multiple bans on demonstrations against pension reform or support for Palestine; the ban on political meetings like that of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in mid-April; police calls from opposition figures – for example Mathilde Panot, president of the La France insoumise group in the National Assembly – for “terrorism apology” ; sentencing the leader of the CGT to a suspended prison sentence of one year for the same offense… Is France experiencing authoritarian change, as part of the left and far left?

Since October 7, 2023, the day of the terrorist attack by Hamas in Israel, followed by the military response of the Jewish state, the mobilization around the defense of Gazan has intensified: calls for demonstrations have multiplied, as well as protests in universities. Political positions, often controversial, are taken every day. They mostly come from the left and the extreme left, who condemn risk of “genocide” from Israel.

Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti issued the circular on October 10, 2023. “a firm and swift response to crime” faced with anti-Semitism and “apology for terrorism” WHOsaccording to this text, it consists of “Words praising the attacks [du Hamas]presenting them as a legitimate resistance to Israel”.

“First shift” after 2015

But the repressive turn did not begin on October 7. The first cuts in the realization of certain freedoms are a little older, note those who regret them. “The first change comes after 2015 and the state of emergency after Islamist attacks, then with the integration of certain measures into customary law”assesses Arié Alimi, lawyer and member of the League for Human Rights (LDH).

Moreover, since this date there have been numerous social movements, sometimes violent, which have provoked a very muscular police response. Let us cite, for example, opposition to the law on “work” (2016), “yellow vests” (2018-2019); movement against the “global security” bill (2021), then against pension reform (2023)… “During this period we saw an increase in police violence, the brutalization of law enforcement, continues the lawyer. As for the right to demonstrate, there has been an inversion of the paradigm: before, freedom was the principle and bans were extremely rare. »

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