The Council of State will examine on Wednesday a request from fireworks distributors who are asking for the suspension of the execution of the decree prohibiting “pyrotechnic devices” during the long weekend of July 14. Their request will be examined in summary proceedings by the highest French administrative court, according to a source familiar with the matter. By a decree published on Sunday in the Official Journal, the government prohibited “until July 15 inclusive, the sale, port, transport and use of pyrotechnic articles and fireworks throughout the national territory”.
After the violence that followed the death of Nahel, 17, killed by a policeman during a traffic check, the government fears a new conflagration in the cities for July 14. If this ban does not apply to authorized professionals or municipalities that organize fireworks, several fireworks distributors “reproved” in a press release published Monday “such a general prohibition” whose effects will be according to them “deleterious”.
These distributors of fireworks assure that this ban is “counter-productive”, because Roman candles, most often diverted during urban violence, “represent barely 1% of the products sold”. This decree therefore has the effect of “considerably” weakening the sector, while missing the “real problem of the black market”, they argue. “Even more dangerous and shoddy products will flood the market, illegal imports will increase and the frequency and power of attacks against our law enforcement agencies will increase,” they say. Instead, professionals call on the government “to collaborate” to “truly and effectively” fight this illegal market.
Fireworks, on sale over the counter, have been diverted from their use for several years and used for illegal purposes, particularly in the context of attacks directed against the police, buildings, vehicles or even against other criminal groups, according to a recent note from the General Directorate of Customs. Elisabeth Borne announced on Saturday that “massive” security means will be deployed on the occasion of July 14.
