France bans police drones at Paris protests

Privacy advocates describe airborne cameras as ‘Orwellian tool’ aimed at tracking individuals rather than maintaining law and order

A police drone flies on 24 March, 2020 over Marseille’s Capucins market (AFP via Getty Images)

Legislators in France have banned Paris police from using surveillance drones during public protests.  

The Council of State, France’s highest administrative court, backed privacy rights group La Quadrature du Net (LQDN), which launched a legal case earlier this year against the police use of drones.

The case argued that police violated freedom of expression, as they used camera-equipped drones to track individuals rather than maintain law and order.

French police had ignored an initial ban which was put in place in May after drones were used in an attempt to catch people breaching Covid-19 lockdown rules.

Police continued to fly drones at protests in the capital as recently as this month, claiming that they did not breach the ban because they made use of an artificial intelligence tool that blurred people’s faces.

The latest order makes it clear that no form of drones will be allowed at protests in the future.

“The Paris Police Prefecture is ordered to cease, without delay, any drone surveillance measures for gatherings of people on public roads,” it states.

The Council of State also ordered €3,000 (£2,700) to be paid to the privacy rights group.

The ruling comes amid parliamentary discussions about a controversial security bill, which sparked protests after passing its first reading in the National Assembly last month.  

Two of the most contentious parts of the draft law are article 24, which seeks to criminalise the filming or photographing of police officers, and article 22, which would allow police to capture images of members of the public using drones or helicopters.

During hearings last week, MP Danielle Obono called drones an “Orwellian tool” that would herald a new era of “mass surveillance”.

Parliamentary president Christophe Castaner promised to “completely rewrite” article 24 following initial protests, while the latest ruling makes it “impossible” to pass article 22, according to LQDN.

“This decision by the Council of State is a double slap for the government: not only are drones banned, but the government has lost all legal legitimacy to want to authorise them in law – unless it provides the impossible proof of 'absolute necessity,” the privacy group said in response to the ruling.

“After long, painful weeks of enduring a series of authoritarian projects and protest violence, the balance of power may finally begin to revers, with the security bill backers experiencing their first major defeat.”