It is a court decision that might lead to many others. The Paris administrative court suspended, this Thursday evening, the prefectural decree which makes it compulsory to wear a mask outdoors in Paris since December 31, we learned from the court.
This decision comes the day following that of the Administrative Court of Versailles, which had suspended a similar decree, a first on the national territory, by considering that the measure was “an excessive, disproportionate and inappropriate interference (…) on individual liberty” .
The decision concerning this order of the prefecture of police of the capital, put in place to deal with the emergence of the Omicron variant, will be published on Friday, added the administrative court of Paris. Asked, the police headquarters reserved its response to receipt of the decision.
“Freedom is the rule”, rejoices a lawyer
“I was able to understand the decision yesterday for the Yvelines, which have more rural areas but in Paris, I did not expect such a decision”, wondered Bertrand, a Parisian resident who had just learned. the new. “As it was neither necessary nor strictly proportionate, the administrative court wished to suspend the decree”, commented for his part Jean-Baptiste Soufron, who pleaded for the suspension of this decree.
“The decree was illegal because it relates to a general and absolute obligation, which is only very rarely accepted by the administrative judge. Finally, the latter exercises a proportionality check on the measures relating to the fight once morest Covid “, for his part, welcomes the Parisian, Paul Cassia, one of the lawyers at the origin of this appeal. “Freedom is the rule and the police measure is the exception. It is this very classic maxim that is applied today, ”adds the lawyer.
During our report for the first days of application of this measure, which then applied to the entire region, residents of Ile-de-France demonstrated their reluctance to follow this decision. Asked by us yesterday, the Prefect of Yvelines said “take note of the decision of the administrative tribunal” while adding “work to adapt the obligation to wear a mask outdoors. In 2020, he had already suffered the suspension of his prefectural decree imposing the health pass in shopping centers in Yvelines.
