The decision of Sciences Po Paris to ban a conference by LFI MEP Rima Hassan from its premises, due to the risk of disturbing public order, is justified, the Council of State ruled this Friday, November 29.
The verdict is in. Given the support given by Riman Hassan to the occupations and blockades of Science Po Paris, the Council of State ruled this Friday that banning the conference of the MEP from France Insoumise in the establishment was justified.
⚖ The summary judge of the Council of State does not suspend the refusal of the director of Sciences Po Paris to make a room available for a conference on the embargo on arms deliveries to Israel motivated by the risk of unrest public order
➡ Read the decision:… pic.twitter.com/b9OupQRgdY
— Council of State (@Conseil_Etat) https://twitter.com/Conseil_Etat/status/1862490722982608901?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In his decision, the judge of the Council of State takes the opposite view of the decision rendered on November 22 by the administrative court of Paris which had ordered the establishment to allow this conference on the question of an “arms embargo on Israel”.
Boycotted by several establishments
“Given the current situation of the establishment, and while Ms. Rima Hassan had on several occasions given her support to the occupations and blockades of Sciences Po, its director did not commit a serious and manifestly illegal attack on the freedom of “expression and freedom of assembly of students by refusing to make a room available for the holding of the planned conference”, underlines the judge in summary proceedings.
The school, which had appealed the decision of the Paris court, told AFP on Friday that “this decision of the Council of State recognizes that the decision of the management of Sciences Po not to provide a classroom provision for the Rima Hassan conference is in line with the rule of law. “The Council of State recognizes the merits of the risk of disturbance of public order which was raised by the management”, according to Sciences Po Paris, which had suffered several blockages in the spring during the mobilization of students in favor of Gaza.
For Me Vincent Brengarth, Rima Hassan's lawyer, “this is an extremely worrying decision”. “If the judge takes into consideration a context specific to Sciences Po relating to the existence of unrest, Rima Hassan is absolutely not the trigger,” he said.
“The public disturbance linked to its presence has absolutely not been demonstrated. Today, an MP is prohibited from speaking in a school advocating openness, on a subject of major general interest,” added Me Brengarth.
Other establishments have banned the holding of conferences by the 32-year-old lawyer, elected from LFI to the European Parliament, such as the University of Lille, Paris-Dauphine (a cancellation ultimately prohibited). In Strasbourg, the administrative court on Tuesday judged “illegal” the ban, decided by the president of the city's university, on a conference planned in the establishment in the presence of LFI MEP Rima Hassan.
