The confrontation between the associative world and the Ministry of the Interior has lasted more than four years and the Council of State has just put an end to it. In a decision issued on Thursday, November 7, the high administrative court considers that the gendarmerie cell called “Déméter” is justified in operating a “Monitoring actions of an ideological nature” environmental activists.
In 2020, a few weeks after the creation of this cell, L214 unsuccessfully requested its dissolution from the Ministry of the Interior. The animal rights association believed in particular that the missions of “prevention and monitoring of actions of an ideological nature” violated freedom of expression.
Created in October 2019 following an agreement between Place Beauvau, on the one hand, and the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA) and Young Farmers (JA), on the other, Déméter is dedicated to the fight against “attacks on the agricultural world” of all kinds, even “actions of an ideological nature, whether simple symbolic actions that denigrate the agricultural community or harsh actions that have material or physical repercussions”according to the terms of the agreement.
In response to appeal L214, the Paris administrative court partially granted the animal association’s requests, ruling that “prevention and monitoring” Such actions found no legal basis in the gendarmerie missions. The Ministry of the Interior appealed this ruling considering that the surveillance mission (the “keep track “) The environmental and animal movements were effectively included within the prerogatives of the gendarmerie.
In its decision, the Council of State considers that “The information gathering missions entrusted to the Démeter cell, even to the extent that they consist of better understanding the structure and modes of action of organizations that act legally in the name of environmentalist, animalist and anti-speciesist motivations, do not exceed those the Minister of the Interior [peut] legally entrusted to the national gendarmerie ».
“Harmful agricultural model”
The high court specifies, however, that these missions should not have “purposes other than the prevention of acts contrary to public order and the safety of property and people”. He adds that the implementation of Demeter’s missions should not “aim to intimidate or discourage the expression or exchange of opinions, even radical ones”.
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