In a case brought before it by La Jeune Garde, the Conseil d’État today ruled that the Government’s decision to dissolve this de facto organisation was appropriate, necessary and commensurate with the gravity of its threat to public order. It noted that La Jeune Garde has engaged in and incited acts of violent confrontation and the physical exclusion of individuals from public spaces in the conduct of its members, through its support for certain social media accounts and in its failure to respond to their content.
On 12 June 2025, the Government issued a decree dissolving the de facto organisation La Jeune Garde. The organisation appealed to the Conseil d’État to challenge this dissolution.
The Conseil d’État pointed out that in view of the serious interference with freedom of association, which is a fundamental principle recognised by the laws of the French Republic, a dissolution can only be lawfully ordered to prevent serious disturbances to public order (article L. 212-1 of the French Internal Security Code). This is notably the case where an organisation or group incites people to engage in acts of violence against persons or property (either explicitly or implicitly, through words or deeds), publicly condones particularly serious acts of violence or fails to moderate explicit incitement to commit acts of violence published on social media or elsewhere.
A dissolution is lawful only if it is appropriate, necessary and proportionate to the gravity of the disturbance to public order that the organisation’s or group’s actions are likely to cause.
A group that calls for violent confrontation and exclusion from public spaces
Firstly, the Conseil d’État maintained that La Jeune Garde, which describes itself as an anti-fascist group, conducted so-called anti-fascist vigilance operations, inciting its own members, whom it prepared for violent confrontations with training courses presented as ‘self-defence classes’, to physically remove from public spaces all persons considered ‘fascists’, for instance, by carrying out neighbourhood ‘patrols’ which the group promoted on social media, or by physically preventing other movements from taking part in demonstrations in public areas.
Violent action on social media supported or unchallenged
The Conseil d’État noted that La Jeune Garde did in fact incite violent acts, both through its explicit support for a number of social media accounts and through its failure to respond to their content.
Indeed, accounts known as ‘Antifa Squads’ had, on numerous occasions, attributed several violent acts against individuals or groups described as ‘fascist’ to La Jeune Garde by posting videos, photographs and violent, explicit messages glorifying these acts on various social media platforms. Several local branches of La Jeune Garde followed the ‘Antifa Squad’ accounts and had reacted by liking posts that attributed such actions to their own group on several occasions. Furthermore, although the leaders of La Jeune Garde were well aware of the existence of these publications and usually maintained a proactive communications policy, they took no steps to refute the allegations regarding the acts or distance themselves from the messages that promoted their organisation.
Provocation with consequences
Lastly, the Conseil d’État confirmed that La Jeune Garde'sprovocation often resulted in action. Considering the evidence in the case file, it deemed that, whilst the group contested some of the allegations against it, its members often took the initiative to act violently in public spaces, without the group condemning such action.
On these grounds, the Conseil d’État ruled that the dissolution of La Jeune Garde, as ordered by the Council of Ministers on 12 June 2025, was appropriate, necessary and commensurate with the gravity of the threat to public order. It, therefore, dismissed the appeal brought by the de facto group.