French city of Cannes bans all protests during famous film festival. Here’s why

It’s supposed to be the most glamourous of film festivals and where the crème-de-la-crème of Hollywood and other film industries meet. We shall see celebrities like Johnny Depp, Martin Scorsese, and our very own Anushka Sharma sashaying down the red carpet at the French Riviera. We are talking about the Cannes Film Festival, which begins today and will continue until 27 May.

However, besides the glamour and the glitz, the festival is also making news as authorities of the prefecture has passed orders banning all protests and demonstrations around the venue of the film festival in order ‘to guarantee public order during an exceptionally big and international event’.

The move is generating buzz as the festival has historically served as a backdrop for protest, with last year’s event seeing two different demonstrations. In fact, in 1968, the film festival had to be cancelled halfway due to protests led by François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.

We take a closer look at the order banning protests and the reason behind such a move.

Maintaining law and order

On 11 May, just days before the 76th version of the festival begins, the city of Cannes and regional authorities issued a public order, banning all demonstrations and gatherings on the public highway for the duration of the event.

The order covers the Rue d’Antibes, the Palais des Festivals, the Croisette and the Promenade de Pantiero alongside the Marché du Film’s International Village. The authorities added that this move was taken in order to maintain ‘public order during an exceptionally big and international event’.

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Moreover, the decision to ban protests was taken as the available police forces would not be sufficient to prevent and contain all the public order disturbances if they arose. Interestingly, more than a thousand police officers, gendarmes and private security agents have already been deployed to ensure security for the stars and their fans at the Cannes Film Festival. Additionally, there will be one CCTV camera in place for every 88 residents of Cannes, as part of a security package for the film festival. Drones have also been wheeled out as part of the surveillance apparatus for the event, in which 21 films are set to compete for the coveted Palme d’Or.

Reason for the ban

While authorities maintain that demonstrations along the Croisette have been banned since 2016 owing to terror attacks, others believe that the ban is a way to stifle unions protesting French president Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms.

France has been witnessing demonstrations and strikes for more than four months to protest unpopular pension reforms forced through parliament by the government of President Emmanuel Macron. Although most demonstrators have been peaceful, demonstrations have erupted into violence and unrest in the big cities as some protesters clashed with the police.

The situation had become quite volatile in March, leading to Britain’s King Charles III to defer his visit to Paris and Bordeaux. Buckingham Palace had then said the decision to postpone the three-day visit by Charles III and Camilla was due to the “situation in France”.

Later in April, France’s energy workers’ union CGT FNME (Fédération National des Mines et de l’Enérgie) threatened to cut power supplies for the Cannes Film Festival as part of their ongoing protests against unpopular pension reforms – Macron has increased the retirement age in France from 62 to 64. “In May, do what you like! The Cannes Film Festival, the Monaco Grand Prix, the Roland Garros tennis tournament, the Avignon Festival, could all find themselves plunged into darkness,” the union said. “We’re not giving up.”

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Besides the French pension reform protesters, there’s also the worry of anti-domestic abuse campaigners staging demonstrations against Johnny Depp following his defamation case with his ex-wife, Amber Heard. Depp will appear at on the red carpet at Cannes this year for his French historical costume drama, Jeanne du Barry. The costume drama is Depp’s first leading role in three years, a period of time in which the star has mostly made headlines for his ongoing legal battles with ex-wife Amber Heard (he lost a 2020 libel case involving her abuse allegations in the UK, but won another one in the US in 2022).

Won’t back down

However, the order to ban protests hasn’t affected the labour union, who has vowed to carry on their agitations.

Denis Gravouil, a representative for CGT told Variety, “It illustrates the way this government works whether in Cannes or elsewhere.” This government didn’t block Neo-Nazis protesting in the heart of Paris on 6 May, but there have been so many decrees to ban the ‘casserolades’”. The pension protesters have been called casserolades as they have been banging saucepans against each other to express their anger.

Celine Petit, a high-ranking CGT official based in Nice, also told Variety, “It’s always been possible to find a middle ground, but this time around they say they’re afraid it will degenerate, but frankly I don’t know if it’s really fear or a will to not give any visibility to our claims about pension reform or what’s going on in the film world.”

There are various protests which they will undertake during the days of the festival and they haven’t ruled out cutting off the energy for the festival. It has been reported that on 19 May, Cannes’ most glamorous hotel, the Carlton hotel, will see mass demonstrations. The CGT members will protest on the forecourt of the hotel where limos typically arrive to collect A-listers and ferry them to the red carpet at the nearby Palais de Festival.

They stated the reason for their protest at the luxurious resort is because service staff will be greatly affected by Macron’s pension reforms. This rally is technically allowed as the hotel is not a public area.

The union is also preparing for a large demonstration on 21 May at the Boulevard Carnot, far away from the Croisette and from the festival’s headquarters.

Will the show go on as usual at Cannes? It’s hard to say, but as Scott Roxborough, the European bureau chief at The Hollywood Reporter, said: “People have a right to protest and free speech should not be kept away from the glamour. “If that means a nice red carpet gets spoiled, then a nice red carpet gets spoiled,” he said.

With inputs from agencies

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