Senate Strengthens French Protest Bill, Human Rights Watch Warns of Rights Threat

A French draft law now before the National Assembly would significantly broaden penalties, financial liability and surveillance powers linked to protests after the Senate toughened the text, prompting Human Rights Watch to warn Friday that it threatens the rights to peaceful assembly and free expression.

The bill, introduced by the government on Sept. 16 under the title “Projet de loi relatif à la réparation des dommages résultant de violences ou de dégradations commises dans l’espace public et au recouvrement des dommages et intérêts,” was sent through an accelerated procedure. The Senate adopted it at first reading on Oct. 27-28, after expanding it, in a reported 229-105 vote. It is now pending review in the National Assembly and can still be amended.

In the Senate-approved version, one of the most consequential changes is a form of joint civil liability for protest-related damage. Courts could order people to pay compensation even if they did not personally commit violence or cause the damage, if they knowingly took part in a group where violence occurred or remained in an “attroupement” — a crowd or gathering — after police gave dispersal orders while they knew violence was taking place. Liability would be capped at 10,000 euros, or about $10,700, per person. In some cases, parents of minors who took part could also be held liable.

The Senate text also strengthens the state’s powers to recover money awarded as damages, including from some social benefits. Senate materials and news reports said those could include family allowances, housing aid and income-support payments.

Other provisions would expand surveillance around demonstrations. Authorities would be allowed to capture, record and transmit images from aircraft, including drones, during protests or near places where damage is observed, to help identify and prosecute suspects. Senate reporting also said the bill would extend experimental algorithmic processing of video images at demonstrations through Dec. 31, 2030, for public-order purposes.

The Senate added powers for prefects — state officials who represent the central government locally — to impose individual protest bans and related restrictions on certain people based on prior violent behavior during the previous three years.

It also added new criminal penalties tied to banned demonstrations. Under the Senate-amended text, which is not final law, organizers of banned protests could face up to one year in prison and a 15,000-euro fine, while participants could face up to six months in prison and a 7,500-euro fine. In some cases, a 500-euro summary fine could be used instead of prosecution.

The government and the Senate have framed the bill as a response to serious public disorder in 2026, including riots during Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League celebrations on May 30 and unrest on Oct. 17 during protests by high school students and demonstrators focused on the cost of living.

Human Rights Watch said on Nov. 13 that French authorities had not shown existing criminal laws were inadequate to deal with violent disorder. “Penalizing people engaged in their right to peaceful protest is the wrong answer to tackling violent disorder in France,” said Eva Cossé, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Lawmakers in both houses should reject this problematic bill entirely.”

The group said the Senate-backed provisions raise a central legal problem: whether people who did not themselves commit violence can be punished or held financially responsible for acts carried out by others during a protest. France is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which protect peaceful assembly and expression subject only to necessary and proportionate restrictions. Human Rights Watch pointed to guidance from the European Court of Human Rights that “peaceful participants may not be held responsible for reprehensible acts committed by others.”