France’s top administrative court overturns climate group’s dissolution

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s top administrative court overturned the dissolution of climate activist group Les Soulevements de la Terre (SLT) on Thursday, saying the group had not provoked violence.

SLT was shut down in June by a government decree which accused it of encouraging violence and material damage. The decree was first suspended temporarily in August by the same court, the Council of State.

The decree referred to protests that resulted in clashes with police, including those against a farm reservoir in western France in March and a rail link in the Alps in June.

The move, which SLT appealed, was immediately criticized by the leftist opposition, environmental groups and NGOs.

“The dissolution of SLT did not constitute an appropriate, necessary and proportionate measure to the seriousness of the disturbances likely to be caused to public order,” France’s Council of State said in a statement.

(Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)