ANYONE who jeers at the Marseillaise or insults the Tricolour may be jailed or fined for “offending against the dignity of the Republic” under a new law that symbolises President Chirac’s promise to impose order in France.

The legal protection for the national anthem and flag is part of a package of “internal security” measures that will become law next week amid strong public support but criticism from civil rights groups and intellectuals.

The move to ban abuse of the Republican symbols was a response to national anger last year, when youths booed the Marseillaise at a France v Algeria football match, causing M Chirac to leave his box in the stadium until an apology was made. Police say that the law, which provides for fines of up to £6,000 and six months in jail, will be unenforceable.

Also included in the security law, drafted by Nicolas Sarkozy, the tough-minded Interior Minister, are fines and imprisonment for youths who intimidate by congregating in stairwells; for beggars, squatters, travellers who trespass and women deemed to be “passively soliciting” for prostitution. Weakly defined, this offence can apply to any woman who dresses provocatively, rights activists say.

Insulting anyone who serves the public, from firemen and bus conductors to teachers and housing estate caretakers, also becomes a punishable offence. In another measure, police will no longer be required to advise criminal suspects of their right to remain silent.

The crackdown is the centrepiece of M Sarkozy’s campaign to reinstate the authority of the State and to calm the anxiety over crime and antisocial behaviour that dominated the presidential and general elections of last spring. Most of the measures are so popular that the Socialist Opposition voted with the Government on Thursday’s final passage through Parliament.

However, the Socialist and Communist groups from the Senate and National Assembly have lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Council, asking it to strike down as a “breach of the exercise of liberty” the clauses in the Security Bill dealing with prostitution, travellers and congregating youths.

They also asked it to rule that the penalties for insulting national symbols were excessive. As the ultimate legal authority, the council may annul laws that it deems breach the Republic’s Constitution.

The law on the flag and anthem have raised a chorus of ridicule from the intellectual world, including some right-wing thinkers, on the grounds that it smacks of American or Third World practices and reflects an attempt to impose a “new moral order” on France.

More than 100 university teachers have signed a petition: “Among other measures that have already provoked justified criticism, the law on the flag and anthem inspires particular concern,” they said. “This forced obedience to the symbols of the nation evokes unhappy past times. Respect is earned. It cannot be imposed.”

Alain-Gerard Slama, a conservative commentator who normally backs M Chirac, said that the flag and anthem law was a mistake.

The Government turned yesterday to a justice reform designed to strengthen the prosecutors’ arsenal against organised crime and to reduce the caseload of overburdened courts. This includes possible plea-bargaining and creating a guilty plea that leads to swift sentencing. At present people who admit their guilt are still given full trials.

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