Saturday 24 October: protests banned in Lyon, Rouen, Le Havre and Chambéry. How these bans work and what a participant risks

What happened

A new day of action has been called for Saturday 24 October, and prefects in several departments have signed bans (arrêtés) in advance. Everything below is based on France 3 reports from 21–22 October:

• Lyon. The prefect of the Rhône has banned all demonstrations in the city of Lyon on Saturday. The prefecture gave its reasons briefly: the events of 17 October, with violence and looting in the city centre, and a new call to protest circulating online. It has given no further detail so far. By 22 October a curfew had been in force in central Lyon for three nights running.
• Rouen and Le Havre. Jean-Benoît Albertini, prefect of the Seine-Maritime, has banned demonstrations and gatherings inside marked perimeters covering the centre and shopping districts of both cities, from 9:00 to 20:00. The prefecture published maps of the perimeters with its press release and on its X account (@Prefet76).
• Chambéry. The prefect of the Savoie has banned processions, marches and gatherings in the historic centre from 8:00 to 22:00. Separately, from 21 October until Monday 2 November, it is forbidden to carry items that could be used in clashes with police: firework mortars, flammable or explosive products, weapons of any category, anything that can serve as a weapon, and also ski goggles, balaclavas and gas masks.

Other cities may follow: each prefect decides for their own department.

What the ban rests on

In France you don't ask permission to protest — you declare it. Article L211-1 of the Code de la sécurité intérieure requires advance declaration of processions, marches and gatherings of people on the public highway. Article L211-4 lets the authority in charge of public order ban a planned demonstration if it considers it likely to disturb order. That is what the prefects have done for 24 October.

Two useful details come from a Conseil d'État decision of 4 December 2023 (no. 487984), which examined these rules:

• the law sets no minimum notice period between announcing a ban and the demonstration itself, so a ban can appear the day before;
• challenging a ban in court does not suspend it: it applies unless a judge decides otherwise.

What a participant risks

Taking part in a demonstration banned under L211-4 is an offence under article R644-4 of the Code pénal (article R211-26-1 of the Code de la sécurité intérieure refers to it as well). The penalty is a fourth-class fine. Under article 131-13 of the Code pénal, the ceiling for that class is €750.

Getting ready for Saturday

1. Find your city's order itself, not a summary of it. The arrêté lists the streets, the perimeter boundaries and the hours, and those define what is banned and where. Prefectures announce such decisions in press releases and on their social media accounts. On the morning of 22 October, several prefecture websites (Rhône, Seine-Maritime, Var) were down for maintenance and pointed visitors to social media, so check there too.
2. Check the hours. In Rouen and Le Havre the ban runs from 9:00 to 20:00, in Chambéry from 8:00 to 22:00. France 3's report gives no hours for the Lyon ban, so check the order itself.
3. Remember that items can be banned too. As Chambéry shows, an order can ban certain objects as well as gatherings, and for longer than one day.
4. Allow extra time for errands in the centre. If you need to be in central Lyon, Rouen, Le Havre or Chambéry on Saturday, it makes sense to look at the perimeter and the hours of the ban in advance.
5. Watch for new decisions right up to Saturday. As the Conseil d'État noted, the law does not require a ban to be announced early.

No further protest dates after 24 October have been announced so far. The rules on declaring and banning demonstrations described above are permanent, and they will apply again in the next wave of protests.