Lawyer Sophie Mazas in Montpellier, France, November 28, 2025. ELSA BEAUMONT FOR M LE MAGAZINE DU MONDE
She was among the hundreds who protested in Béziers on Saturday, November 29, at the call of the collective Vive La Laïcité, meaning "long live secularism." The gathering aimed to protest the inauguration of the Nativity scene that, despite multiple court rulings, has been set up in the town hall of the southern French city for the 11th consecutive year. The most recent ruling, delivered by France's highest administrative court, the Council of State, on February 18, 2025, found the installation of the religious symbol in the public building to be illegal, based on the 1905 law separating the churches from the state.
A Montpellier-based lawyer and president of the LDH, France's Human Rights League, for the Hérault department, Sophie Mazas, 49, wearing jeans and a black jacket that day, has spent years fighting violations of that law in her region.
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