Monday, November 25, the prefect of Drôme banned a demonstration by the “Justice for Ours” collective planned for this Saturday, November 30 in Romans-sur-Isère. The State feared a disturbance of public order during this far-right gathering to commemorate the anniversary of Thomas' death in Crépol (Drôme). The order has just been suspended by the courts.
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The Grenoble administrative court has decided to suspend the ban, decided by the prefect, on a demonstration by the ultra-right collective “Justice for ours” planned for this Saturday, November 30 in Romans-sur-Isère. He also suspends the ban on counter-demonstrations in a second order. The State fears a disturbance of public order during these gatherings to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Thomas in Crépol (Drôme), which occurred on November 19, 2023.
To justify this decision, the prefect evokes the tensions already present in the region, in particular due to the death of another young man, Nicolaswho played in the same rugby club as Thomas. He was shot in the head while waiting to enter a nightclub.
The demonstration is to be held this Saturday, November 30 at 3 p.m., Place Ernest Gailly in Romans-sur-Isère.
The tension never really subsided. In recent weeks, numerous leaflets, letters and public declarations have given rise to fears in the prefect of “significant unrest and clashes ideological in Romans-sur-Isère, Bourg-de-Péage, Crépol and Valence, November 30 next”.
But according to the court, the prefect “does not allege the dissemination of calls to commit acts of violence” and did not call for changes to the demonstration routes.
“In these conditions, the ban on the demonstration declared by the applicants cannot be considered appropriate, necessary and proportionate to the circumstances. Therefore, the latter are justified in maintaining that there has been a manifestly illegal attack on public freedom“, considers the court.
“Gathering permitted. Everyone in Romans on Saturday!“, the collective rejoiced on Friday on its Instagram account. For several days, its members had been distributing leaflets in Romans and the surrounding area calling for people to come together in memory of Thomas and Nicolas Dumas, whom they describe as “victims of immigration“.
The second order suspends the ban on counter-demonstrations announced by left-wing associations or organizations denouncing the political exploitation of the deaths of the two young men.
The death of Thomas, a 16-year-old high school student stabbed during violence at the end of a village dance, had inflamed the political class, with the right and the far right seizing the subject to denounce growing insecurity in the countryside. according to them, coming from the sensitive suburbs.
A few days after the murder, ultra-right activists organized a demonstration resembling a punitive expedition in the Monnaie district of Romans, where some of the 14 people indicted in this case come from.
A year after Thomas' death, the investigation continues. Eight people accused are still placed in pre-trial detention.
In a press release, the mayor of Romans-sur-Isère Marie-Hélène Thoraval “would like to reiterate its attachment to the freedom to demonstrate but remains particularly concerned about the conjunction of these two demonstrations on the same day on the same territory and the risks of violent clashes that result from it“.
She asks like this:it is up to the State to do everything possible to supervise these events as much as possible and to deploy additional resources to those initially planned“.
