France’s Senate approved a bill exposing some participants in violent gatherings to up to €10,000 in shared civil claims, potentially shifting repair costs beyond those who directly caused damage.
The Oct. 27 roll call recorded 229 votes in favor, 105 against and eight abstentions. The proposal now goes to the National Assembly, France’s lower house, and is not law.
The bill covers two types of conduct. A person may face a claim after knowingly joining a group covered by a Penal Code provision on preparing violence, if another member commits violence, theft or property damage. A separate provision applies when someone chooses to stay in a violent crowd after police dispersal warnings and knows that members are committing one of those offenses. That second provision exempts people who remain for a legitimate reason. The cap is €10,000 per person, even when the person did not directly cause the damage.
If a civil damages judgment is final, collection could extend to certain public benefits, within statutory limits. The list includes family benefits, housing aid, the active solidarity income (RSA) and the activity bonus. The bill could give victims another route to seek compensation, while people held liable and households whose benefits are used to collect an award could bear costs.
The government says the proposal is intended to make people responsible for damage contribute to repair costs. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told senators, “We can no longer let the majority of our fellow citizens pay for a minority of vandals,” in translation. The Senate says the state can be held civilly liable for damage at gatherings, while efforts to recover costs from individuals have been hampered by difficulty identifying them.
Amnesty International warned that shared liability for other people’s actions could discourage peaceful assembly and that benefit seizures could deepen hardship for low-income families. Communist Sen. Fabien Gay called the bill “a legal travesty that deliberately conflates protesters and vandals,” in translation.
The government filed the bill on Sept. 16 under an accelerated procedure. During debate, Nunez cited damage during the Oct. 17-18 unrest and at Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League final victories in 2025 and 2026.
As of Oct. 28, the National Assembly docket listed no debate date for the bill.
