Repression, Bans, Sainte-Soline: France Beating Down Its Own Citizens

There is a line that democracies should never cross: using state force not to protect citizens, but to silence them. France has crossed it. Several times. And the images are there to prove it.

March 2023, Sainte-Soline. A protest against the mega-reservoirs. 200 protesters injured, 40 of them seriously. Injuries included fractures, lacerations, burns, hearing loss, and the loss of an eye. Two protesters were in critical condition and placed in a coma. A bloodbath. Wikipedia

In November 2025, Mediapart and Libération published footage from the gendarmes’ body cameras. The footage shows grenades—illegally—being fired point-blank at protesters, and gendarmes gloating over having caused serious injuries. One of them declares: “I signed up for this;

I waited 10 years in the gendarmerie to experience this.” Orders to fire directly at protesters were given in at least 9 out of 15 squadrons. Orders. Not individual initiatives. A strategy. POLITIS

Meanwhile, in Paris, Police Prefect Laurent Nuñez announced that he would ban the pro-Palestinian demonstration scheduled for October 28, 2023. “The organizations that filed this notice are organizations that, based on statements they may have made, could give the impression that they support Hamas,” he explained. 

There is a line that democracies should never cross: using state force not to protect citizens, but to silence them. France has crossed it. Several times. And the images are there to prove it.

March 2023, Sainte-Soline. A protest against the mega-reservoirs. 200 protesters injured, 40 of them seriously. Injuries included fractures, lacerations, burns, hearing loss, and the loss of an eye. Two protesters are in critical condition and have been placed in a coma. A bloodbath. Wikipedia
An intangible, moral, subjective justification—one that allows for a ban without evidence, without a trial, by prefectural decree. The administrative court would later describe this decision as a “serious violation of the freedom to protest.” Too late for the protesters that day. FranceinfoFranceinfo

Dieudonné banned. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations banned. Sainte-Soline brutally suppressed. An increasing number of opponents prosecuted, detained, and convicted. Seven activists from Sainte-Soline sentenced to suspended prison terms, one of them to six months in prison. The police officers who gloated over injuring civilians? An administrative investigation. Launched under media pressure. Two years after the events. Wikipedia

This isn’t about public order. It’s selective repression. And every time a state cracks down on its citizens who are protesting peacefully, it further erodes the democracy it claims to defend.