Paris Police Ban Student Protests as Interior Minister Defends Use of Tear Gas and Grenades

The Paris Police Prefecture has officially banned the student and high school protest scheduled for Tuesday in central Paris, prohibiting the demonstration organized by the Interfac Ile-de-France group. The authorities have presented an alternative route on the outskirts of the capital, which Interfac has rejected, intending to challenge the ban through an appeal to the administrative court. This move highlights escalating tensions between student protest organizers and law enforcement over the right to demonstrate in the city center.

In a related development, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez addressed the National Assembly's law commission, firmly rejecting accusations of repression by law enforcement. He emphasized that the police's role is primarily to prevent public disorder and declared that he will "not renounce any intermediate means," including the use of tear gas and grenades if necessary. Nuñez’s remarks underline the government's commitment to maintaining public order amid ongoing social mobilizations and reinforcing police powers despite public scrutiny.

The ban on the student protest and the government’s stance on crowd control methods come amid a broader wave of student and labor protests in France. Interfac's refusal of the alternative peripheral route for their demonstration and plan to seek legal recourse signals a protracted conflict over the approach to managing protests in Paris.

These decisions reflect a toughened security posture by authorities aiming to balance maintaining order with respecting citizens’ rights to protest. The legal appeal process and planned protests will likely continue to test the relationship between protesters and police in the days ahead.