Protests, football matches and public order offences
Two things happen at once in these cases and they are frequently confused. There is a criminal proceeding, with the ordinary rules and the ordinary timetable. And there is an administrative banning order, imposed by the police authority without any conviction, which can reach a foreign supporter who has never been prosecuted at all.
The banning order
The measure prohibits access to places where sporting events are held and may add an obligation to report to a police station at the times of matches. It is imposed by the police authority on the basis of conduct, not of a conviction: participation in disorder, involvement in violent episodes, or being identified in a group involved in them.
It is administrative in form and heavily restrictive in substance, which is why it can be challenged — and why the challenge has to be brought in the administrative jurisdiction, on its own deadline, quite separately from the criminal case. Where a reporting obligation is added, that part must be validated by a judge.
A person who was never charged, and who has left the country, can therefore find themselves subject to a measure they only discover when they try to attend a match. Foreign supporters are frequently in exactly that position.
The criminal side
| Offence | Content | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Resisting a public official | Violence or threat to oppose an official act | Art. 337 Criminal Code |
| Violence or threat to compel an act | Directed at obtaining or preventing an act | Art. 336 |
| Insulting a public official | In public, before several people, during a duty | Art. 341-bis |
| Injury to officers during sporting events | Aggravated offence | Art. 583-quater |
| Carrying objects capable of causing injury | One to three years since 2023 | Art. 4 Law 110/1975 |
| Concealing the face | Aggravating factor and separate provisions | Public order legislation |
| Damage | Only in the qualified forms since 2016 | Art. 635 |
Resisting is by far the most common charge and it requires an active use of violence or threat. Passive resistance — going limp, refusing to move, linking arms without striking anyone — is not the offence, and the whole case usually turns on which of the two the officer's report describes. The detail is in the guide on public order offences.
Identification in a crowd
These files are built on footage, on identification made during or after the event, and on group attribution. All three are contestable and all three should be tested rather than accepted.
- Individual conduct. Presence in a group is not participation in what individual members did.
- The quality of the identification. Recognition from footage, at distance and in poor light, is evidence of variable reliability.
- The sequence. Where a police charge preceded the conduct, the question whether the official act was lawful arises, and with it the defence for reaction to an arbitrary act.
- Objects. What was carried, by whom, and whether there was a justifying reason.
If you are a visiting supporter or demonstrator
Two practical points. Leaving the country does not end either proceeding: the criminal case continues and the banning order is served in your absence, and both need an address for service and someone on record.
And the banning order is the one that will actually affect you. It is what surfaces when you buy a ticket, and unlike the criminal case it can be imposed without anybody ever proving anything against you to a criminal standard.
Frequently asked questions
Can I be banned from stadiums without a conviction?
Yes. The banning order is an administrative measure imposed by the police authority on the basis of conduct, and it can reach someone who was never prosecuted.
Is refusing to move a criminal offence?
Passive resistance is not the offence of resisting, which requires an active use of violence or threat directed at the official.
I was in the group but did nothing.
Presence is not participation. Individual conduct has to be attributed, and identification from footage in a crowd is evidence of variable reliability.
I have gone home. Is it over?
No. The criminal case continues and the banning order is served in your absence. Both require an address for service and someone on record.
If a measure has been served
The administrative challenge has its own short deadline and it is separate from the criminal case. First contact is free and covered by professional privilege.