Paris police have banned a concert organised by the hard-left party La France Insoumise (LFI) as part of France’s annual Fête de la Musique (music day) celebrations, citing concerns that the event could attract anti-police activists and fuel public disorder.
In a decree published yesterday evening, Paris police prefect Patrice Faure justified the decision by pointing to the anticipated presence of controversial figures associated with anti-police activism, including members of the Adama Committee, its founder Assa Traoré, and rapper Médine.
According to the prefecture, the Adama Committee has repeatedly promoted hostility toward law enforcement, notably through slogans such as “Everybody Hates the Police,” while Médine has been accused by critics of hate speech.
Patrice Faure argues that “this event risks attracting an audience hostile to law enforcement and giving rise to the dissemination of statements inciting hatred, discrimination or violence against institutions”.
He further emphasizes that this concert takes place “in a highly polarised political context (…) and that this context fuels the desire for confrontations”.
Party officials also disputed the prefecture’s rationale, noting that neither Assa Traoré, the Adama Committee, nor Médine appeared on the officially announced concert programme.
The event was due to take place on June 21 evening at Paris’s Place de la République following an anti-racism march organised by the radical socialist party.
The ban prompted criticism from party leaders.
Manuel Bompard, LFI’s national coordinator, condemned the move as an “authoritarian practice” and warned that such decisions could have implications for the integrity of France’s next presidential election.
He accused Paris Police chief of “sowing disorder” by cancelling the event just a few days before.
He argued on X that these type of “authoritarian practice, which seeks to instrumentalise law enforcement issues for political ends, poses to the conduct of the next presidential election”.
“Last year’s concert near the Canal Saint-Martin was a great popular success and passed off without incident, just like all the events organised by La France Insoumise in recent years,” Bompard said.
LFI founder Jean-Luc Mélenchon went further, alleging that the prefect acted under pressure from Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), and Ariel Weil, the Socialist mayor of central Paris.
Mélenchon claimed the decision was taken at the last minute following lobbying efforts by groups “hostile” to his party.
The dispute escalated on further today after government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon defended the prefecture’s decision, arguing that authorities had identified a genuine risk to public order because of individuals associated with the event who had previously made insulting remarks about law enforcement.
LFI responded by accusing the government of dishonesty and announced that it had filed an emergency legal challenge before the administrative court seeking to overturn the ban.
“The spokesperson for authoritarianism is calmly lying on television,” Manuel Bompard said.
