French high school students face new restrictions during protests following an order by the Hérault prefect. The decree, signed on October 1, bans the transport of protective equipment, including masks, helmets, and knee pads, during unauthorized demonstrations near schools. The move aims to disrupt police crowd-control tactics like tear gas and to prevent the anonymity that masks provide. The Hérault prefect justified the order as a necessary response to violence against security forces and public property damage.
Legal challenge and previous rulings
The Human Rights League and the Syndicat des Avocats de France challenged the decree in the administrative tribunal in Montpellier. They argued the ban disproportionately limits the freedom to demonstrate. The tribunal rejected their appeal in an October 6 ruling. It found that the prefect has the authority to issue such an order and that the ban does not clearly violate any fundamental freedom. The legal teams are now taking the case to the State Council, arguing the local decree is broader and more permanent than similar measures in Paris.
While the Paris prefecture also banned protective gear near schools in the Île-de-France region, that order was temporary. The Hérault ban applies to all schools in the department’s main cities and has no set expiration date. This difference in scope is central to the current legal argument. The challengers note that the Paris measure was limited to a 100-meter radius, whereas the Hérault order covers a much wider geographic area without time limits.
Arguments over safety and freedom
Me Sophie Mazas, an attorney for the Human Rights League, disagrees with the government’s perspective. She notes that police frequently confiscate bags, which exposes students to injury. Mazas states that this policy prevents children from exercising their right to protest safely. The challengers argue that the decree assumes all young protesters intend violence. They point out that many students suffer harm during clashes without protective gear.
Ministry stance and court timeline
The representative from the Ministry of the Interior maintains that the equipment signals bad intentions. They argue that in a chaotic situation, people should simply leave rather than engage. The official also confirms that intelligence suggests the situation may worsen in the coming days. Regarding the indefinite nature of the order, the ministry states that protests are ongoing events. They believe issuing temporary decrees would be ineffective.
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State Council precedent
The legal teams have decided to contest the legality of this decree before the Council of State. L’affaire a été plaidée ce mercredi à 15 heures. Beaucoup of prefects have taken similar measures. Et justement le Conseil d’État a déjà eu l’occasion de se prononcer le 9 octobre dernier (n° 520384), on recours de Vigie Liberté (également intervenant volontaire à cette instance).
This association contested the arrêté of the police prefect who had prohibited the port of protective equipment intended to thwart all or part of the means used by representatives of the public force to maintain public order in a radius of 100 meters around high schools and higher education institutions in the Hauts-de-Seine, in Seine-Saint-Denis, and in the Val-de-Marne on Thursday 8 October and Friday 9 October 2026.
The administrative tribunal of Paris rejected the appeal and the Council of State in its ordinance of October 9 judged that “contrary to what is argued, such a measure (the prohibition of the port of security equipment, N.D.L.R.), by itself, does not infringe on the freedom of assembly, the freedom of demonstration and the freedom to go and come.” The entire difficulty for the petitioners therefore consists in trying to obtain a different decision in their file.
Regarding the decree of the prefect of Hérault, they observe to the audience that it is not limited in time, unlike that of the police prefect of Paris, and that its object geographic is much more large since it targets all the school establishments of the principal cities of the department.
