Several rallies planned for Saturday in Romans-sur-Isère in memory of young Thomas, murdered a year ago in the village of Crépol, were finally authorized after being banned by the Drôme prefecture, the court announced on Friday, November 29. from the Grenoble administrative office. .
In two separate orders dated Friday, the court, requested provisional measures by the organizers of the rallies, decided to suspend the ban on demonstrations.
The Drôme prefecture justified its ban on gatherings on Monday due to fear of “major riots and ideological clashes in Romans-sur-Isère, Bourg-de-Péage, Crépol and Valence”. But according to the court, the prefect “does not allege dissemination of calls to commit acts of violence” and did not ask for changes to the demonstration routes.
“Under these conditions, the ban on demonstration declared by the plaintiffs cannot be considered appropriate, necessary and proportionate to the circumstances. Therefore, the latter are justified in maintaining that there has been a manifestly illegal attack on public liberty.the court estimates.
Accusation of political instrumentalization
One of these demonstrations, initially announced for November 19 in Romans-sur-Isère, a year after the murder, and then postponed until November 30, is organized by a small far-right group called Justice for Our Own. “Authorized meeting. Everyone in Romans on Saturday! »the collective rejoiced on Friday on their Instagram account.
For several days, its members had been distributing leaflets in and around Rome calling on people to gather in memory of Tomás and another young man, Nicolás Dumas, a player from the same rugby club as the teenager, murdered in early November in front of a nightclub in the department, which they describe as “victims of immigration”.
The second order suspends the ban on counter-demonstrations announced by left-wing associations or organizations that denounce the political exploitation of the death of the two young people.
The death of Thomas, a 16-year-old high school student stabbed during violence at the end of a village dance, enraged the political class, with the right and far-right seizing on the issue to denounce growing insecurity in the countryside. , according to them, from the sensitive suburbs. A few days after the murder, far-right activists organized a demonstration similar to a punitive expedition in the Monnaie district of Romans, where some of the 14 people accused in this case come from.
