Police custody in France after a protest: rights and duration

A protest turns rough, the police make arrests, and you find yourself in a van. Police custody in France after a protest follows precise rules: a limited duration, rights explained from the start and a lawyer nobody can refuse you. A lawyer answers your questions in 20 minutes on Avocat20min.fr.

This article follows the order of events: the identity check, the arrest, police custody itself, then what happens on release. It relies on the French Code of Criminal Procedure in force on 23 October 2026.

Identity checks during a protest

During a protest, the police may check your identity. If you cannot or will not prove it, Article 78-3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows them to hold you on the spot or at the station to verify it.

This hold has limits:

• Four hours at most from the check, eight hours in Mayotte and French Guiana. The public prosecutor (procureur de la République) can end it at any time.
• A senior police officer (officier de police judiciaire) sees you straight away and lets you prove your identity by any means.
• You can tell your family or a person of your choice, and have the prosecutor informed.

If you keep refusing, the prosecutor can authorise fingerprints or photographs. Refusing them is an offence punishable by three months in prison and a €3,750 fine (Article 78-5).

A simple tip: carry an identity document. A quick check avoids being held for hours.

Arrest and placement in police custody

Being arrested is not yet police custody (garde à vue). Only a senior police officer can place you in custody, and only if there are plausible reasons to suspect a crime or an offence punishable by imprisonment.

At protests, the same offences come up often: violence, vandalism, resisting arrest, insulting an officer, joining a group intending to commit violence. Simply being in an authorised march is not an offence, as our guide to the right to protest explains.

Custody must also be the only way to achieve one of the six aims listed in Article 62-2: carrying out investigations, making sure you are brought before the prosecutor, preventing evidence being destroyed, pressure on witnesses or collusion with accomplices, and stopping the offence.

The officer informs the prosecutor as soon as the measure starts. The prosecutor then oversees police custody and can order your release at any time (Article 62-3).

How long does police custody in France last?

The basic rule fits in one line: 24 hours, renewable once.

Situation	Maximum duration	Who decides
Ordinary police custody	24 hours	Senior police officer, under the prosecutor's control
Extension	24 more hours (48 in total)	Prosecutor, in writing with reasons, if the offence carries at least one year
Organised crime, terrorism	72 to 144 hours	Liberty and custody judge or investigating judge
Prior identity check	Counted in the total	Starts when you lost your freedom

The clock starts when you were deprived of your liberty, not when you reached the station (Article 63, III). Time spent in an identity check or in a van therefore counts.

An extension is never automatic. The prosecutor must authorise it in writing, and only if it remains the only way to meet an aim of the investigation. The prosecutor may require you to be brought before them, if need be by video link.

Your rights explained at the start of police custody

Article 63-1 requires immediate information, in a language you understand. The officer tells you how long the measure lasts, which offence is suspected, its date, its place and why you are held. You also receive a written document listing your rights.

The right to remain silent

Once you have given your identity, you can make statements, answer questions or stay silent. Silence is a right, not an admission. Many people regret a statement made in the heat of the moment, without a lawyer, at three in the morning.

The right to a lawyer from the first hour

You can ask for a lawyer from the start of police custody and at any time afterwards (Article 63-3-1). You choose a lawyer you know, or you ask for a duty lawyer (avocat commis d'office), appointed by the head of the local bar.

• A confidential interview of 30 minutes, renewable at the start of an extension (Article 63-4).
• Presence at interviews: if you asked for it, the police cannot question you about the facts without your lawyer, unless you expressly waive it (Article 63-4-2). Only the prosecutor can delay this presence, exceptionally and for twelve hours at most.
• Two-hour window: if your chosen lawyer cannot come within two hours, the officer asks the bar for a duty lawyer.
• Access to documents: the lawyer can read the record of your rights, the medical certificate and the records of your interviews.

Doctor and interpreter

You can ask to see a doctor, and again if custody is extended (Article 63-3). The police must act on the request within three hours. A family member can also make it. The doctor decides whether you are fit to remain in custody and records any injuries.

If you do not speak French, an interpreter assists you free of charge. A deaf person is entitled to a sign language interpreter or another qualified person.

Telling a relative and your employer

You can have a person you live with, a parent, a brother, a sister or anyone else you choose told by telephone. You can also have your employer told, and your consulate if you are a foreign national (Article 63-2). The call must be made within three hours.

The prosecutor can delay this notice, or refuse it, if this is essential to preserve evidence or protect someone. Our article on a relative in police custody explains what the family can learn and do on their side.

The officer may also let you speak to that relative directly, in writing, by phone or in a meeting of up to 30 minutes, under supervision.

If you are a minor

For a minor, the rules are stricter: parents must be told, a lawyer is mandatory, a doctor is appointed automatically under sixteen, and interviews are filmed. Our guide on a minor arrested covers them in detail.

Police custody or voluntary interview?

Sometimes the police offer a voluntary interview (audition libre) instead of police custody (Article 61-1). You remain free to leave at any time, and the police must tell you so.

Other rights remain: knowing the suspected offence, staying silent, having an interpreter and, for an offence punishable by imprisonment, having a lawyer. One notable difference: the lawyer's fees are yours to pay, unless you qualify for legal aid (aide juridictionnelle).

A voluntary interview does not apply if you were brought to the station by force. In that case, the police must either let you go or place you in custody.

Fingerprints, photos and DNA: can you refuse?

During police custody, the officer takes identification records: fingerprints, palm prints and photographs (Article 55-1). These feed police databases.

Refusing them, when there are plausible reasons to suspect you, is an offence punishable by one year in prison and a €15,000 fine. In some cases (an offence carrying at least three years, identity refused or clearly false), the prosecutor can even authorise fingerprints to be taken by force.

DNA sampling falls under Article 706-56. It applies to people suspected of an offence on the list in Article 706-55, which includes deliberate violence and criminal damage. Refusal is also an offence punishable by one year in prison and a €15,000 fine. That sentence adds to the one for the main offence, with no merging.

Before refusing, talk to your lawyer. A refusal creates a second offence, separate from what happened at the protest.

How does police custody end?

When the measure ends, the prosecutor decides what happens next. There are several possible outcomes.

Outcome	What it means
Release with no further action	The case may be dropped for lack of evidence or of an offence
Probationary criminal warning	It replaced the "rappel à la loi" on 1 January 2023; you must admit the facts
Composition pénale	Fine, course or compensation offered by the prosecutor, for an offence carrying five years at most
Summons by a police officer	You leave with a hearing date before the criminal court (tribunal correctionnel)
Referral to the prosecutor	You go before the prosecutor the same day, or within twenty hours
Immediate trial	Trial the same day, for an offence carrying at least two years (six months if caught in the act)

The probationary criminal warning (Article 41-1) is ruled out for someone already convicted, for violent offences and for offences against a person holding public authority. At protests, these exclusions often apply.

In an immediate trial (comparution immédiate), you can refuse to be tried that day. The court then adjourns the case to a hearing four to ten weeks later. Meanwhile, the court can place you under judicial supervision, or even in pre-trial detention. Your lawyer helps you weigh this choice.

A conviction then appears on your criminal record, with consequences for employment that are worth knowing.

Duty lawyer and legal aid

During police custody, the State pays the duty lawyer under the scheme for lawyers' assistance (Article 64-1 of the Law of 10 July 1991). Money should therefore never stop you asking for a lawyer.

Afterwards, legal aid covers all or part of the costs depending on your means. In 2026, it is full for a single person whose reference tax income does not exceed €12,957. It becomes partial above that, up to €19,433.

A lawyer you choose sets their fees freely. Ask for a written fee agreement at the first contact.

Good habits in police custody

A few simple rules protect your rights:

1. Ask for a lawyer straight away, even if you believe you are innocent.
2. Give your identity, then say nothing about the facts before speaking to your lawyer.
3. Ask for a doctor if you are injured or on medication.
4. Have a relative told and, if needed, your employer.
5. Reread every record before signing it, and have anything that does not match your words corrected.
6. Sign nothing you do not understand.

If you filmed the scene, delete nothing and tell your lawyer. Our article on filming the police explains what the law allows.

How a criminal lawyer helps

A lawyer checks that the procedure was lawful: time limits, notice of rights, grounds for custody, conditions of interviews. An irregularity can lead to steps being annulled. The lawyer also prepares what comes next, whether an immediate trial or a summons.

A lawyer will not make proven facts disappear. They do, however, prevent hasty statements and defend your safeguards. A criminal lawyer answers in 20 minutes, before or after police custody in France.

The official rules appear on the service-public police custody page.