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French court temporarily lifts ban on radical environmental group

France's Conseil d’Etat has suspended a government ban on the environmental group Soulèvements de la Terre, pending a full ruling later this year

Published: 11 August 2023 16:43 CEST

French court temporarily lifts ban on radical environmental group

Protesters took the streets when the government confirmed the ban on radical green group Soulevements de la Terre. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP)

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin ordered that the Uprisings of the Earth group – known as Soulèvements de la Terre (SLT) in French – should be dissolved in June, following violence clashes at a site in western France in March.

But on Friday, in a summary ruling the Conseil d’Etat said, “the dissolution of the Earth Uprisings undermines the freedom of association and creates an emergency situation for the applicants”, which is why the judges consider “that the first condition necessary to order the suspension is fulfilled”.

The full judgement will come later in the year.

⚖️ Le Conseil d’État suspend en référé la dissolution des Soulèvements de la Terre

➡️ Lire la décision : https://t.co/PpLJphhK6f pic.twitter.com/uO1nFny7Jx

— Conseil d'État (@Conseil_Etat) August 11, 2023

The court said that the Interior Ministry of the Interior had not provided sufficient evidence to attest to the legality of this decree, which was nevertheless adopted by the Council of Ministers on June 21st.

“Neither the documents in the file, nor the exchanges during the hearing, allow us to consider that the collective endorses in any way violent acts towards people,” the Conseil said in an official press release.

But SLT’s victory may be short lived, as the decision is not a final judgement. It merely suspends the dissolution ordered by the government on June 21st. The judges still have to decide on the merits, “probably in the autumn”.

SLT is part of a new wave of radical climate activist groups, including Extinction Rebellion, that say direct action is needed in response to insufficient efforts to combat climate change and global warming.

The dissolution procedure was launched in March after around 5,000 protesters battled with more than 3,000 police officers during a protest against a giant irrigation reservoir near Sainte-Soline in western France.

Two protesters were left in a coma, and around 30 officers were injured.

But Darmanin has drawn fire from left-wing opponents and rights groups for branding the actions of some protesters “eco terrorism”, noting that SLT’s dissolution was based on a law targeting extremist ideologies.

“It should not be used in a context of civil disobedience, where the freedom of expression and assembly takes precedence,” Greenpeace France said in a statement.

Greenpeace added that it would support Soulèvements de la Terres if it contested the dissolution decree before the Conseil d’Etat, which rules on the legality of French laws.

It was joined in its support of the group by numerous associations and parties, including EELV, Agir pour l’environnement, and LFI, as well as hundreds of individuals.

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Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.