(Bloomberg) --

Paris police were banned by top judges from using spy drones to monitor compliance with health-safety rules aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

France’s highest administrative court said the use of drones “constitutes a serious and manifestly unlawful infringement of privacy rights.” France started easing lockdown measures on May 11, with many stores reopening after almost eight weeks.

The Conseil d’Etat ruled Monday that drones can no longer be used until the concerns are addressed, either via a privacy-friendly law or by equipping the drones with technology that makes it impossible to identify the people filmed.

The ruling comes after civil liberty groups, the Human Rights League and La Quadrature du Net, filed a lawsuit earlier this month.

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