A/HRC/41/41/Add.1 the fact that Mr. Cuixart acted in a peaceful manner with regards to the protests which occurred, the Special Rapporteur believes that the proportionality of such administrative detention may be reassessed. He looks forward to the Government of Spain’s continued engagement with his mandate, on this matter and others in the future. 86. The Special Rapporteur also raised his concerns with regards to alleged violations of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in the context of the widespread “gilets jaunes” protests in France, including the alleged excessive use of force by French security forces and arbitrary arrests of protesters (FRA 2/2019). Reports allege that certain tactics were put into place by French security forces aiming to reduce the number of participants taking part in demonstrations, through excessive interrogations, identity checks, systematic police detentions (garde à vue), searches, and confiscation of protection equipment such as goggles and gas masks, telephones, journalistic equipment and material and in some cases medical supplies. Indeed, according to figures received, in the two months since the beginning of the protests on November 2018, there had been 5,339 detentions and 144 serious injuries (of which 92 resulted from the use of “flash balls” or LBDs), with 14 protesters losing eyes and 4 losing hands, allegations which are prima facie symptomatic of a disproportionate use of non-lethal weapons. The Special Rapporteur further raised concerns regarding the measures against unauthorised protests and “casseurs” (provocateurs) which may also disproportionately affect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of France for its response dated 11 April 2019, and takes note of the legitimate security considerations that the Government faces with regards to acts of violence which occur during the “gilets jaunes” protests. However, he must note that the dichotomy made by the Government between manifestations and riots (attroupements) risks branding all manifestations where violence occurs as the latter category. The Special Rapporteur reminds the Government that the acts of a small number of violent individuals do not render an entire manifestation violent. The Special Rapporteur further notes the investigations undertaken by the Government of France to ascertain the legitimacy of the injurious use of non-lethal weapons and looks forward to receiving the results soon as well as a reply on the measures taken to implement the recommendations issued by the Ombudsman (Défenseur des droits) on his report related to "Policing with respect to the rules of professional conduct" (“Le maintien de l’ordre au regard des règles de déontologie”) of December 2017. 87. The Special Rapporteur rests preoccupied by the alleged judicial harassment against Mr. Uladzimir Vialičkin and Mr. Vital Kazak, along with the arbitrary detention of Mr. Aliaksandr Kabanaŭ for their participation in a peaceful protest (BLR 2/2019). Allegedly, the judicial harassment and arrests of the human rights defenders are a result of their participation in unauthorised protests against environmental damage which may result from the construction of a battery plant in Brest. The Special Rapporteur further notes that authorisation for these protests had been sought from authorities 89 times, but only granted once. The Special Rapporteur underlines that the systematic denial of authorisation for peaceful protests amounts to an impermissible restriction on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, which, if allegations are true, the Government should immediately rectify. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur stresses that peaceful protests should be subject to a notification regime, rather than an authorisation regime, and even failure to notify authorities of a protest does not, in and of itself, render a protest unlawful. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of Belarus for its response dated 16 May 2019, however he regrets that no translation of the response was available at the time of writing. 88. The Special Rapporteur has also expressed his serious concerns regarding the sentencing of at least 87 members of Academics for Peace between 11 December 2018 and 21 February 2019 (TUR 3/2019). Those sentenced were found guilty of the creation of “terrorist propaganda”, under article 7(2) of the Anti-Terrorism Law, while, at the time of writing of the communication, at least 493 members had had their first hearing. The Special Rapporteur notes that concerns regarding the criminalisation of members of Academics for Peace have been raised on four previous occasions (TUR 13/2017, TUR 1/2017, TUR 4/2016, TUR 3/2016), however, at the time of writing, allegations regarding further trials persist. The Special Rapporteur in this communication highlighted that the right to freedom of peaceful assembly does not only apply to physical gatherings of people, but also to analogous interactions taking place online, or in this context, the signing of the petition. 17