What the bill would do

The senate will this week debate the government's proposed 'vandals pay' law, a measure trade unions say is part of an attempt by Emmanuel Macron to curb a fundamental French right as his government fast-tracks it through parliament. The president leaves office next spring.

Under the bill, a demonstrator could be held liable to pay up to €10,000 for damage and vandalism even without having directly caused it, if they were protesting nearby or as part of the same group as the perpetrators. The text also provides for greater use of drones over protests.

The idea was originally prepared in the wake of violent clashes after Paris Saint-Germain's victory over Arsenal in the Champions League in May. Prime minister Sébastien Lecornu has defended the bill as "absolutely essential" after looting and burning during recent demonstrations across France.

Critics: end of street protest

Opposition spans the left of parliament and civil society. Communist senator Fabien Gay told Public Sénat:

Éric Coquerel of La France Insoumise said the law would mean the end of street demonstrations, because people would not risk paying up to €10,000 for vandalism they had not committed.

Leftwing trade unions and France's Human Rights League went further in an open letter to Le Monde, writing that the law should be abandoned or risk a major step back for the rule of law, calling it a serious attack on the freedom to demonstrate.

Le Pen embraces the crackdown

The National Rally has claimed the 'vandals pay' bill was originally its idea, as Marine Le Pen works to reinforce her law-and-order credentials with her frontrunner status in next spring's presidential election boosted. She has also lodged an appeal to France's highest court over her conviction for embezzlement of European parliament funds.

Le Pen launched her presidential campaign on Sunday at a rally in Orléans, promising to bring back order to France before a cheering crowd of more than 8,000 people.

"Vandals will pay and if it takes their whole life to pay, then they will spend their whole life paying," she told them. She added: "We are going to restore the rule of law. Who can claim that there is rule of law when hordes come to ransack and burn our buildings?"

Restrictions amid the protests

For over a month, pupils have kept schools blockaded across France, pressing for action on absent teachers, work on buildings they describe as decrepit and adjustments to the university applications platform. Trade unions and gilets jaunes anti-government protesters are now joining sustained street demonstrations in a growing social crisis over schools, the cost of living and public services. Earlier this month, one of France's worst days of violence in years saw largely peaceful demonstrations marred by looting, fires and vandalism of state buildings.

There has been anger at Macron for banning non-union demonstrations his government deemed "illegitimate" and for keeping protesters away from city centres. He has not put in place a state of emergency, but authorities have imposed bans on gatherings in front of schools and city-centre demonstrations, curfews in some places, and extended police custody for a record number of people arrested.

Street protests are seen in France as a fundamental way for people to make themselves heard by a centralised state, and have regularly been used against legal changes from pension reform to same-sex marriage. Serge Slama, professor of public law at Université Grenoble Alpes, told Telerama the country had seen "a number of decrees bringing a wide restriction on public liberties". He called the restrictions unprecedented and said they would benefit the far right if it won elections next year, allowing further crackdowns without changing the law.

Lecornu will meet representatives of the protesting high-schoolers on Monday, as the government faces pressure to respond with funding and school repairs and avert further blockades.