A decision by the Paris administrative court has overturned a ban on food distributions that had been implemented in the 10th and 19th arrondissements of Paris. The court had been seized in October 2023 to censor the ban. Several associations, including the Federation of Students of Solidarity (FAS) of Île-de-France, the league for Human Rights (LDH), the Abbé-Pierre Foundation, the Details and Support Group of Immigre.es (GISTI), paris d’Exil, Emmaüs and Utopia 56, challenged the ban, arguing it represented an “attack on human dignity” and violated the “law not to be subject to inhuman treatments or degrading.” They also contended that the decree infringed upon “freedom of association and meeting,” “freedom to come and go,” and the “principle of fraternity.”

Police Justified Ban citing “Recurring Nuisances”

The Paris administrative court noted that “By a decree of October 9,2023,the prefect of police prohibited food distributions in paris from Tuesday October 10,2023 to Friday November 10,2023 inclusive,in a sector delimited by the Place du Colonel-Fabien,rue Louis-Blanc,rue de Château-Landon,Boulevard de la Villette in its entirety,Avenue de Flandre to the passage of Flanders,Moselle,the passage of the Moselle and the rue de Meaux to the Place du Colonel-Fabien.”

The police prefect had defended the ban by citing “recurring nuisances” allegedly caused by the food distributions, wich he said were “organized at the beginning of the evening” in the boulevard de la Villette sector. He argued that the distributions led to “crowds of marginalized people” and contributed to “camps” of “migrants”, “drug addicts” and “without fixed homes,” creating “a breeding ground for various trafficking” and enabling the “advancement of rescue sales or underground economy activities.”

“attacking freedom of association and meeting”, “freedom to come and go” and to the “principle of fraternity”.

Court Found No Evidence to support the Ban

The prefect, Laurent Nuñez, argued that his decree did not excessively restrict freedom of movement, considering the “limited period” of the prohibition and the “perimeter” it covered. “There are other solidarity catering services, social grocery and food parcels for people in precarious situations (…) in the 19th arrondissement,” Laurent Nunez stated. He suggested that “needy people” coudl find these services “on the website of the city of Paris.”

However, the court disagreed with the prefect’s justification.”However (…) The prefect does not produce any part (…) allowing to corroborate his assertions according to which these distributions (…) have been the subject of” multiple reports by residents “(…),” scuffles with customers wishing to access the establishments open to the public located nearby “and” blocking access and emergency exits “of these same establishments, which are not even specified,” the court stated in a judgment dated May 5, 2025.

The judges further noted, “In addition, if it is not disputed that” camps “made up of” marginalized “individuals have been found in the sector (…), prohibited food distributions benefit a wider audience of people in precarious situations, including families.” The court added that “The prefect of police produces (…) No substantiated element allowing to establish the link between the installation of these camps and the distributions in question, while it also notes that there are many other places (…) of food distributions (…) without the formation of camps is noted.”

City of Paris to Pay Legal Costs

The court also stated that “The circumstance, moreover, no more supported, according to which a punctual prohibition measure of food distributions on the Henri-Frenay square in the 12th arrondissement would have reduced installations on public roads and nuisances is not enough, by itself, to establish that the installation of” camps “(…) would be attributable to food distributions”.

As a result,the prefectural decree was overturned. The city of Paris was ordered to pay 3,000 euros in legal costs to the associations involved, as “the budget of the city of Paris includes (…) a special budget for the police headquarters”, the administrative court of Paris noted.