Crackdown through fines in France. Street and Court Activism during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Based on a study of demonstrations held in four French localities in May 2020, which led to court proceedings, this article sheds light on a discrete part of the policing repertoire: fines that are used by police officers in the context of the policing of street activism. It examines how these financial penalties were used during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as how some activists contested these fines in the lower and upper courts. It analyzes the pandemic restrictions on civil liberties, while observing more generally the rise of a repressive continuum that combines financial sanctions, physical violence, and the stigmatization of social movements.