This summer, French environmentalist collective Earth Uprisings looked set to be banned — but it has now survived the attack by President Emmanuel Macron’s government. On November 9, France’s highest administrative court threw out an official decree to outlaw the movement, which has led campaigns against large infrastructure and land-development projects and boasts over a hundred thousand affiliates and members.

“The highly original movement that is Earth Uprisings has been recognized as having the right to continue its activities,” says Antoine Lyon-Caen, an attorney representing the collective, which has garnered the support of leading writers and activists from France and abroad. Laura Monnier, a legal expert at Greenpeace France, says she’s “relieved” by this outcome to a legal battle that has captured the attention of France’s broader web of NGOs. She warns, however, that civil society needs to stay “vigilant” of the wider threats to freedom of association and expression.

The case argued before the State Council — the French court with the final word in surveilling the application of the law and state activities like decrees — largely hinged on allegations that the group had issued calls for violence against people and property. Ultimately, judges deemed that a ban was not “appropriate, necessary, and proportionate” given the statements coming from the collective and the effects of its activities.