PARIS (Reuters) -France’s top administrative court overturned the dissolution of climate activist group Les Soulevements de la Terre (SLT) on Thursday, saying the group had not provoked violence.
SLT was shut down in June by a government decree that accused it of encouraging violence and material damage.
The decree was first suspended temporarily in August by the same court, France’s Council of State.
The decree referred to protests that resulted in clashes with police, including protests against a farm reservoir in western France in March and a rail link in the Alps in June.
The move, which SLT appealed, was immediately criticized by the leftist opposition, environmental groups and non-governmental organisations.
“This is good news for the ecologist movement in France, and a blow to the interior minister,” SLT lawyer Raphael Kempf told Reuters.
“He went after SLT without realizing they now represent thousands of people.”
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin had referred to “eco-terrorism” in relation to SLT actions in recent months, saying some activists had shown “extreme violence against police forces”.
The Interior Ministry declined to comment on the ruling.
But France’s Council of State found that “the dissolution of SLT did not constitute an appropriate, necessary and proportionate measure to the seriousness of the disturbances likely to be caused to public order,” it said in a statement.
(Reporting by Juliette JabkhiroEditing by Tomasz Janowski and Rod Nickel)
