People crossing Place de la République in Paris beneath the Monument to the Republic
Place de la République, Paris. Photo: Pierre-Selim Huard / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Editorial crop.

France 2040 · Day 2 / Article 8 · Liberty and the common city

Freedom is Paris’s promise. But freedom without rules can become domination by whoever has more money, noise, vehicles, numbers or force.

By Osama Samaha, Editor-in-Chief, oui stars Travel · 11 September 2026

Where does individual freedom end and the rights of the city begin? The question is deliberately uncomfortable because “the city” has no rights apart from the people who inhabit, work in and visit it. Yet those people share finite space, air, sleep, safety and access.

French public law begins from liberty. The Conseil d’État describes police restrictions as the exception and requires them to be necessary and proportionate. Its 1933 Benjamin judgment remains a foundational test. In a June 2026 decision on demonstrations, the court again said public authorities must reconcile fundamental freedoms of expression and assembly with public order through measures adapted, necessary and proportionate to the circumstances.

Fact: occupying public property beyond ordinary use requires authorisation, which is temporary and revocable. Analysis: a terrace, demonstration, delivery zone, encampment and festival raise different legal and social questions. Opinion: Paris needs a coherent test, not improvised tolerance for the powerful and improvised prohibition for the weak.

Freedom is not the same as private capture

A café may enliven a street, but its terrace cannot silently become permanent ownership of the pavement. A motorist’s convenience cannot override a disabled pedestrian’s access. Nightlife supports jobs and tourism, but the freedom to celebrate does not cancel a neighbour’s right to sleep. Paris’s 2026 summer-terrace rules allowed operation until 23:00 and reiterated cleanliness, pedestrian access and tranquillity obligations.

The same discipline applies to protest. A democratic capital must tolerate disruption and dissent. Restrictions require evidenced risk and proportionality, not political irritation. But freedom of expression does not grant permission for violence or indiscriminate damage.

The city’s “rights” are public duties

Paris cannot invoke identity or attractiveness as vague reasons to control conduct. It must name the protected interest: safe passage, health, tranquillity, property, accessibility or another person’s liberty. It must publish the evidence, choose the least restrictive workable measure and allow review.

That matters economically. A region welcoming nearly 50 million visitors and generating almost €24 billion in tourism spending in 2025 cannot govern public space through ambiguity. Residents and investors need rules that are stable; visitors need rules that are intelligible; vulnerable people need rules that are not selectively enforced.

In a free city, regulation is legitimate when it protects equal freedom, not when it protects comfort from difference.

Direct questions to French decision-makers

Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire: what single public test guides decisions on terraces, noise, access and competing street uses? Prefect of Police Patrice Faure: will restrictions on assembly and movement be accompanied by published evidence and proportionality reasoning? Paris councillors: which rules are applied inconsistently between wealthy and poor districts? The French Parliament: are current safeguards and appeals fast enough when a freedom is restricted?

What Can Be Done?

  1. Adopt a public “equal freedom” test: legality, evidence, necessity, least restrictive option, proportionality and review date.
  2. Publish permits, exemptions, sanctions and response times in reusable neighbourhood-level data.
  3. Guarantee minimum pedestrian and accessibility corridors before allocating commercial or event space.
  4. Use time, place and manner rules for noise and gatherings instead of blanket bans.
  5. Create rapid independent mediation for conflicts involving residents, businesses, demonstrators and vulnerable people.
  6. Audit enforcement disparities by district and type of actor, with safeguards against discriminatory profiling.
Continue the series: Article 5: who owns the streets? · Article 7: women and safety · Article 1: Paris 2040

Invitation to respond

oui stars Travel invites the City, Prefecture of Police, Parliament, rights institutions, resident groups, businesses and civil-liberties organisations to answer these questions. Verified corrections and reasoned responses will be published transparently.

Osama Samaha
Editor-in-Chief – oui stars Travel

Primary official sources

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