Just two hours before it was slated to open, a massive four-day convention of Muslims in northern Paris was granted permission to proceed after a French administrative court struck down a sudden government prohibition.
The event, the Annual Encounter of Muslims of France, is a sprawling hybrid of a religious summit, cultural conference, and trade fair. Organized by the Muslims of France (MF) association—the largest Islamic body in the country—the gathering was returning for the first time since 2019, when it routinely attracted tens of thousands of attendees from across Europe.
Paris police had preemptively banned the convention, claiming it posed an severe security threat. Authorities argued that the current "tense" national and international climate made the event a prime target for terrorist attacks or disruption by far-right extremist groups. Furthermore, police suggested that unrest could be orchestrated remotely by foreign adversaries, aligning with broader French concerns over proxy provocations funded by nations like Russia and Iran.
However, event organizers swiftly filed an emergency injunction to save the gathering, asserting that the police decree was an infringement on fundamental civil liberties. The administrative court agreed with the organizers, concluding that the police had failed to provide concrete evidence of any credible far-right targeting or planned counter-demonstrations.
The judge also rejected the argument that the gathering would overburden local law enforcement, pointing out that the MF had already secured substantial private security for the convention.
The dramatic legal clash occurred against the backdrop of a renewed legislative push by the French government to combat what it describes as "Islamic separatism." Recently, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced intentions to introduce new laws expanding upon a five-year-old measure that authorized the state to shutter associations accused of harboring anti-Republic ideologies.
"There are still some structures which we have been unable to reach," Nunez told a local radio station, highlighting a need for stricter oversight over collective childcare. "More generally we want to be able to ban publications which carry appeals to hate, violence or discrimination."
Sefen Guez Guez, the lawyer representing the MF, told the court that the sudden cancellation was a "manifest breach of the right to assemble" and argued that it was a political stunt engineered to promote the government's upcoming anti-separatism legislation. Critics of the MF frequently accuse the organization of maintaining ties with the international Muslim Brotherhood, an allegation the association vehemently denies.
Defending the attempted prohibition, a legal representative for the police maintained that the decision was based entirely on public safety concerns.
"This is not an anti-Muslim or anti-Islam decree," the police lawyer stated, insisting the sole motivation was the preservation of public order.