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What the law forbids at a protest, and what you risk

The essentials

  • It is almost always the use or the intended purpose of an object that is punished, not the object itself: carrying a weapon, throwing, aiming, hiding your face, staying after the summonses.
  • Staying in a gathering after the summonses: 1 year and €15,000; 3 years and €45,000 if you hide your face so as not to be identified.1
  • Taking part in a protest while carrying a weapon: 3 years and €45,000. An object is a weapon only if it is used or intended to kill, wound or threaten.23
  • Violence against a police officer or gendarme, even without any incapacity for work: 3 years and €45,000.4
  • This guide gives legal information, not advice or encouragement. The penalties are maximums. It describes no equipment and no method.

Knowing what is punished avoids finding yourself in custody without knowing it. This guide does not say what to do at a protest (see The right to protest and Dispersal, warnings and kettling): it summarises what the Criminal Code provides. A judge assesses each situation: this table is not a prediction.

Not legal advice

This information does not replace a lawyer. Arrested? See Police custody (garde à vue).

The most common offences

What is punished What the text says Maximum penalty
Staying in a gathering after the summonses A gathering is any assembly of people on the public road or in a public place likely to disturb public order; it can be dispersed after two summonses that had no effect.5 Voluntarily continuing to take part after the summonses, without carrying a weapon, is an offence.1 1 year and €15,000; 3 years and €45,000 if the face is hidden so as not to be identified
Taking part in a gathering while carrying a weapon Same basis, with a weapon.6 3 years and €45,000; 5 years and €75,000 if you continue after the summonses; more still if the face is hidden
Taking part in a protest or public meeting while carrying a weapon No summonses are needed.2 3 years and €45,000
Hiding your face Voluntarily hiding all or part of your face, without a legitimate reason, within or right next to a protest on the public road during or after which public-order disturbances are committed or likely to be.7 1 year and €15,000
Taking part in a group preparing violence or damage Knowingly taking part in a group, even a temporary one, formed to prepare, through one or more material acts, deliberate violence against people or destruction or damage of property.8 1 year and €15,000
Violence against a person holding public authority Violence causing no more than eight days' incapacity for work, or none, against a person holding public authority (police officer, gendarme).4 3 years and €45,000
Contempt (outrage) Words, gestures or threats, writings or images not made public, or sending objects addressed to a person holding public authority in the course of or because of their duties.9 1 year and €15,000
Resisting officials (rébellion) Violent resistance to a person holding public authority acting to enforce the law or an order of the authorities.10 2 years and €30,000; 3 years and €45,000 if committed by a group11
Damage Destroying, defacing or damaging another person's property; marking inscriptions, signs or drawings without permission on facades, vehicles, public roads or street furniture.12 2 years and €30,000, unless the damage is slight; €3,750 and community service for inscriptions when the damage is slight
Organising an undeclared or banned protest Organising a protest on the public road without prior declaration, or despite a ban, or having filed an incomplete declaration.13 6 months and €7,500

The principle: use and intended purpose

A weapon is any object designed to kill or wound. Any other object that may present a danger to people is treated as a weapon when it is used to kill, wound or threaten, or when its carrier intends it to kill, wound or threaten.3

An ordinary object in a bag does not become a weapon by itself: its use and the purpose its carrier gives it are what count, and judges assess case by case. The text lists no allowed or forbidden objects.

A few cases people talk about

The Criminal Code names few of these objects (only explosive or incendiary substances are covered); the classification depends on what is done with them. These are illustrations, not certain classifications.

  • A laser aimed at people, in particular at the eyes or at officers: the object may be seen as used to wound or threaten, therefore treated as a weapon, and the act may be prosecuted as deliberate violence.34
  • Dirty matter or other substances thrown at people (what is called a "cacatov", or balloons filled with paint or another liquid): throwing at people may be prosecuted as violence, and sending objects addressed to an officer falls under contempt.49 If it is property that is targeted (a facade, a vehicle), it is damage.12
  • So-called "reinforced" equipment: helmets, goggles and masks are ordinary protection (see Protest kit and outfit). Rigid or reinforced equipment that you intend to hit, wound or threaten with, or use that way, may be treated as a weapon,3 which changes the penalty for carrying a weapon at a protest.2
  • An incendiary device (what is called a "Molotov cocktail"): this is one of the heaviest cases. Destroying or damaging someone's property by an explosive substance, fire or any means likely to endanger people is punished by 10 years and €150,000, more if people are injured.14 Merely possessing or transporting incendiary or explosive products in order to prepare such acts or attacks on people is punished by 7 years and €100,000.15
  • Throwing a tear-gas grenade back at law enforcement: no article targets this act. It is analysed according to what it causes and the object: throwing an object at officers can be prosecuted as violence against a person holding public authority.4 An object used to wound or threaten can be treated as a weapon (art. 132-75),3 which links to carrying a weapon at a demonstration.2 Grenades are also classed among "war material" (category A2) in the Internal Security Code: this administrative classification alone does not fix the criminal classification.16 The judge assesses each situation.

What this guide does not do

It describes no equipment and no method, does not compare how effective any action is, and recommends none. To understand why damage happens, without justifying it: Why property gets smashed at protests.

If you are affected

In one of these situations? a beginner (it's my first protest)

Sources

Each note points to the source of the information. Laws change: check the date of the source and, if in doubt, ask a lawyer.

  1. Criminal Code, art. 431-4 (staying in a gathering after summonses, Légifrance; in French) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩↩

  2. French Criminal Code, art. 431-10 (taking part in a demonstration while carrying a weapon) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩↩↩↩

  3. French Criminal Code, art. 132-75 (definition of a weapon and objects treated as one) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩↩↩↩↩

  4. Criminal Code, art. 222-13 (violence causing up to eight days' incapacity, Légifrance; in French) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩↩↩↩↩

  5. Criminal Code, art. 431-3 (gathering and summonses, Légifrance; in French) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩

  6. Criminal Code, art. 431-5 (taking part in an armed gathering, Légifrance; in French) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩

  7. French Criminal Code, article 431-9-1 (Légifrance) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩

  8. French Criminal Code, art. 222-14-2 (group formed to prepare violence or damage) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩

  9. Criminal Code, art. 433-5 (contempt of an official, Légifrance; in French) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩↩

  10. Criminal Code, art. 433-6 (resisting officials: definition, Légifrance; in French) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩

  11. Criminal Code, art. 433-7 (resisting officials: penalties, Légifrance; in French) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩

  12. Légifrance — Criminal Code, article 322-1 (damage, unauthorised inscriptions; in French) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩↩

  13. Criminal Code, art. 431-9 (organising an undeclared or banned protest, Légifrance; in French) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩

  14. Légifrance — Criminal Code, art. 322-6 (destruction by explosive, fire or dangerous means; in French) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩

  15. Légifrance — Criminal Code, art. 322-11-1 (possession of incendiary or explosive products; in French) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩

  16. Légifrance — Internal Security Code, art. R311-2 (classification of war material, weapons and ammunition; in French) · AI-sourced on · awaiting human check ↩

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