An administrative court in Caen, France, faulted the Deauville city hall on Monday for removing a photograph taken in Gaza from a local festival, reported AFP and Le Monde.
The image by Associated Press photographer Jehad Alshrafi features a soccer match being played by members of the Palestinian Ahli Gaza Club on a pristine, synthetic green field, surrounded by rubble from Israeli military attacks. But in mid-August, the image was quietly taken down from an outdoor exhibition that is part of this summer’s Deauville Sport Images Festival, which celebrates the “value of sports.”
The ruling effectively suspends the city hall’s prior decision to nix the photograph and follows an emergency motion filed by the Observatoire de la liberté de creation (Observatory for the freedom of creation, or OLC for short), which called for the protection of free speech and demanded the work be rehung. A lawyer representing the OLC told France 3 that the photograph, which first went on view June 6, was selected by a jury for the exhibition, as an artful example of the persistence of sports activity “including in the most terrible of situations.”
In the city’s defense, lawyer Marie-Thérèse Sur-Le Liboux claimed the photograph was taken down due to a perceived risk of public unrest and an alleged “wave of hatred” seen on social media against the images’ display. The latter, Sur-Le Liboux argued, could lead to “extremely violent” behavior. In a press release, the city also reportedly said that the photograph risked opening “new wounds,” while also adding that it was “in no way pro-Hamas,” as opponents of the photograph’s display apparently claimed online.
However, the court brushed aside the city’s arguments and ruled that removing Alshrafi’s photograph was “not a necessary, appropriate and proportionate measure, taken to preserve public order.” The image should be reinstalled before September 6, when the festival concludes, and the city must pay the OLC 1,000 euros ($1,160) in damages.
