Protest fine in France: €135 and how to challenge it

You received a notice of offence after a gathering, or an officer fined you on the spot. The amount looks small, but paying amounts to admitting the offence. A lawyer reviews your notice in 20 minutes on Avocat20min.fr.

This article explains what a protest fine in France punishes, how much it costs, the deadlines to pay or challenge it and the arguments that come up when a ticket was issued wrongly. It relies on the French Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure in force on 23 October 2026.

What the protest fine punishes

Article R. 644-4 of the Penal Code covers taking part in a demonstration on the public highway that has been banned under Article L. 211-4 of the Internal Security Code. It is a fourth-class petty offence (contravention).

Three elements must therefore be present:

1. A banning order. The mayor or the prefect, and in Paris the police prefect, bans the demonstration by order, considering that it risks disturbing public order.
2. A demonstration on the public highway. A march, a static gathering or a procession through the streets.
3. Participation. You took part in the demonstration concerned, in the place and during the period that the order sets.

An undeclared demonstration is not the same as a banned one. Joining an undeclared gathering is not an offence, since no text punishes it: the Court of Cassation said so in June 2022 (Crim. 8 June 2022, No. 21-82.451, and Crim. 14 June 2022, No. 21-81.054). Only the organisers of an undeclared demonstration commit an offence, punishable by six months in prison and a €7,500 fine (Article 431-9).

Conversely, once an order bans the gathering, it makes no difference whether it had been declared (Crim. 16 March 2021, No. 20-85.603). Our article on the right to protest, notice and bans covers these rules.

How much the protest fine costs

The offence is on the list of those that can be settled by a fixed penalty (Article R. 48-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). The amounts follow the fourth class:

Situation	Amount
Fixed penalty	€135
Increased fixed penalty	€375
Increased penalty paid within a month of the notice	20% less
Fine imposed by the police court	€750 maximum

Sources: Articles R. 49, R. 49-6 and R. 49-7 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and 131-13 of the Penal Code, in force on 23 October 2026.

Unlike many traffic offences, this protest fine has no reduced early-payment amount. The reduced-fine procedure mainly concerns the Highway Code.

What a petty offence does not allow

A protest fine punishes a petty offence, and a petty offence does not allow anyone to be held in police custody. Custody requires reasons to suspect a crime or an offence punishable by imprisonment (Article 62-2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).

However, if you cannot prove your identity, the police can hold you to check it, for four hours at most (Article 78-3). You then have the right to inform your family or a person of your choice.

If you are also accused of a more serious offence, such as damage or covering your face, things change: see our article on police custody after a protest.

Deadlines: 45 days to pay or challenge

For a protest fine, the clock starts when the offence is recorded, or when the notice is sent if it arrives later by post.

1. 45 days to act. You pay €135, or you file a request for exemption (requête en exonération) with the department named on the notice (Articles 529-1 and 529-2).
2. No payment, no request: the increase. After that period, the fine automatically becomes an increased fixed penalty of €375, collected by the Treasury.
3. 30 days for an objection. You can still challenge the increased fine with a reasoned objection (réclamation), within thirty days of the increase notice being sent (Article 530). It cancels the enforcement order for that fine.

If you never received the notice, the objection generally remains admissible until the penalty is time-barred, unless there is proof that you knew about the increased fine.

One point matters above all: payment ends the prosecution (Article 529). Once the fine is paid, you can no longer challenge it. If you think the ticket is unjustified, do not pay before you have decided.

How to challenge a protest fine

The request for exemption goes to the public prosecutor's officer (officier du ministère public), through the channel shown on your notice. When the notice comes from ANTAI (the national agency for automated processing of offences), the challenge is usually made online on its website, or by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt to the address given.

For this offence, the law does not require a deposit beforehand: deposits mainly concern traffic offences recorded by speed cameras.

Give reasons for your request. State:

• the notice number, and the date, time and place of the ticket;
• the precise reasons why you dispute it;
• the list of documents attached, as copies.

Keep the original notice. For an objection to an increased fine, the increased fixed penalty notice must go with your letter, or the objection is inadmissible (Article 530).

What happens after the challenge

The public prosecutor's officer has three options (Article 530-1):

• drop the case: it ends and you pay nothing;
• prosecute before the police court, through a criminal order or a hearing;
• declare the request inadmissible, if it gives no reasons or the notice is missing.

Before the police court, the judge can acquit or convict you. If convicted, the fine cannot be lower than €135, or €375 if you challenged after the increase. It can go up to €750, plus a fixed procedural fee.

Challenging a protest fine therefore carries a real financial risk. It is worth taking when your arguments hold up, much less over a simple political disagreement with the ban.

The most common wrongful tickets

Several situations come up often when someone challenges a protest fine:

• Simply being there. You lived inside the area, you were leaving work, you were waiting for a bus. Crossing a street where a gathering takes place is not taking part in it.
• Outside the area. The order defines streets or a zone. If you were fined outside it, the offence is missing.
• Outside the hours. The order also sets times. A ticket before it starts or after it ends does not stand.
• An order you could not know about. An order published too late, or posted only at the prefecture, may not have reached the demonstrators. The Court of Cassation requires a prefectoral regulation to be brought to the attention of the people it concerns (Crim. 5 March 1991, No. 90-80.344).
• An unlawful order. The criminal judge can assess the lawfulness of an administrative act when the outcome of the case depends on it (Article 111-5 of the Penal Code). A general, disproportionate ban can be argued.
• The wrong offence. The notice cites a text that does not match the facts, or does not mention the order.

Someone covering the event for the press, or observing for an association, can also argue that they were not taking part. For footage you took on the spot, see our article on the rules for filming the police.

Evidence to gather quickly

Against a protest fine, a challenge is won on documents. Collect them in the days that follow, before they disappear:

• the banning order, with its area and hours, and its publication date in the prefecture's official register;
• time-stamped photos or videos, and your phone's location history;
• a transport ticket, a till receipt or a bank statement placing your journey;
• a letter from your employer, your school or an appointment;
• written witness statements, dated and signed, with a copy of the witness's ID;
• your press card or a letter from the association, where relevant.

Also write down, as soon as possible, what you saw: number of officers, any warnings, the exact spot. Memory fades fast.

What about the fixed criminal fine?

The fixed criminal fine (amende forfaitaire délictuelle, AFD) does not apply to taking part in a banned demonstration, which remains a petty offence. It covers certain criminal offences, where the law provides for it (Article 495-17 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).

Around a march, the most frequent case is graffiti causing minor damage: €200, €150 reduced, €450 increased (Article 322-1 of the Penal Code). The AFD never applies to a minor. It can be challenged within 45 days, normally with a deposit, but the Penal Code waives the deposit for this graffiti offence specifically.

If you are accused of actual damage, the procedure is entirely different: see our article on the penalties for vandalism at a protest.

How a lawyer helps

Faced with a protest fine, a lawyer reads the notice, finds the order and checks the area, the hours and the publication. They assess your chances before you risk a €750 conviction. They draft the request or defend you before the police court.

If your child received a fine at a protest, our guide on a minor arrested at a protest helps. A criminal law lawyer answers within 20 minutes.

The official service-public page on fines imposed by a criminal court explains what happens after a conviction.