1674079159 Rubber balls disobedience and disrespect for the police jeopardized the

Rubber balls, disobedience and disrespect for the police jeopardized the reform of the “gag law”.

Riot police from the National Police attack participants in a demonstration in Madrid in May 2011.Riot police from the National Police take action against participants in a demonstration in Madrid, May 2011 PEDRO ARMESTRE (AFP)

The reform of the Citizen Protection Act, known as the Gag Act, has been more at risk than ever since Wednesday. The two meetings that took place in the last two days between the six factions to amend the norm “PSOE, Unidas Podemos, PNC, ERC, EH Bildu and Junts” have made it possible to bridge some of the differences that they have retained, but has also served to verify that divergences are still large on three key points. In particular, in the articles related to the use of riot gear, and in particular rubber bullets, by the security forces to combat street riots (Article 23); the one that establishes the sanctions for disrespect towards the agents (Article 37.4) and the one that punishes, with fines ranging from 601 to 30,000 euros, “disobedience or resistance to the authority or its agents”, which has been massively used to punish those which they skipped Pandemic accommodation (Article 36.6).

The formations accuse each other of making the negotiations, which have lasted almost a year, seem doomed when the deadlines to move them forward are close to the limit. In fact, the foreseeable lack of a final agreement will mean that the text emerging from the parliamentary report (for which only one more session is scheduled) will be sent first to the Interior Commission and later to the plenary session of Congress without the consensus of the Investiture blocks and thus his approval are in the air. Several of the groups privately admit that reform is in jeopardy, although negotiations between the parties have reached beyond the walls of Congress in recent weeks to reach the addresses of the parties with contacts with the leaders of the formations, according to details. Sources familiar with the negotiations.

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On the most controversial point of the reform, the use of rubber balls, ERC, Junts demand “recalling that the Mossos d’Esquadra have banned their use and use foam bullets, a supposedly less harmful viscoelastic material”, and EH Bildu demand their express ban on the future text. For its part, the PNV has so far advocated a protocol similar to that introduced in Euskadi by the Basque government, limiting its application by the Ertzaintza to such exceptional cases that their agents have not fired anyone in the last 10 years.

For their part, the PSOE and Unidas Podemos proposed an amendment at the beginning of the negotiations that did not provide for cuts, although they favored the development of “specific protocols” to “always use the least harmful means for people and avoid those that cause irreparable injuries cause”. . Later, Pedro Sánchez’s executive branch’s minority partner suggested bringing positions closer together to set up a commission, chaired by the ombudsman, that would investigate “the transition and replacement” of rubber balls with other less harmful materials. Both parties insist that the Gag Act is not the appropriate legal framework to address the use of combat gear as there is no specific reference to it in the current text, and they advocate bringing its regulation to a different standard, particularly a future change in the law . State Security Forces and Corps Act, a 1986 regulation that no one has proposed to change to date.

At this point, the various formations accuse each other of intransigence in their positions. Pointing out that according to a recent parliamentary response, rubber bullets have been used by the National Police and Civil Guard just 46 times in the last three years, Socialist sources criticize what they consider a side issue endangering the rest of the two progress made in negotiations. Unidas Podemos points in the same direction, concluding that “the good work done so far and everything that has been advanced cannot be compromised on a very small number of specific issues”. The PNV also puts the responsibility for the possible failure on those who insist on this ban: “Each group will have to think and decide whether, despite all the improvements and all the progress, they think it’s the better option not to change anything.”

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ERC, EH Bildu and Junts reject these arguments and accuse the Home Office of interfering in the negotiations on this and other issues, fearing the reaction of the police unions, which have spoken out directly and specifically against the gag law reform, for cutting into battle gear. Recently, these organizations have threatened to take to the streets again, as they did back in November 2021. On the part of the PSOE, they reject the pressure from Fernando Grande-Marlaska’s department: “All ministries set criteria for the changes, [pero] then it all depends on the groups and what is negotiated”.

On another issue with no agreement, police disobedience, United Podemos made some changes to the current wording in recent meetings to gain the groups’ support, including specifying that disobedience must be “obvious” and resisting the Agents, with “physical opposition”. The proposal was supported this Wednesday by the PNV and the PSOE, but not by the rest of the groups, some of whom recall that an agreement in principle had previously been reached on this point, which the Socialists later reversed. This earlier proposal pointed out that disobedience would be punishable only if it was accompanied by “physical resistance or physical violence.”

Sources who took part in the negotiations remind that this article is key to the reform, since it was used by the Interior Ministry as the main tool of its punitive policy during the first state of alert in 2020. During these three months, the security forces issued 1.14 million sanction proposals with this section of the gag law, while in 2019 only 14,747 sanction files were initiated with the same article. In fact, the Ombudsman even requested information on the fines imposed to determine whether the police had acted “properly and proportionately” during the detention.

The same thing happened with the article that punishes disrespect towards security forces and which has been the most widely used by the police since the rule came into force in 2015, after being endorsed by the PP thanks to the absolute majority they had then. At this point, the proposal was made by the PNV, with the support of Unidas Podemos, with wording that speaks of “humiliating, derogatory and offensive statements or actions” that “objectively” discredit the police in the performance of their duties. functions. At this point, the PSOE has opened up to an evaluation of the proposal, but ERC, Junts and EH Bildu consider the changes insufficient, as they say they still leave open the possibility of “arbitrary” actions by the agents.

However, the meetings of the last two days have made it possible to reach agreements on other points that have also led to differences so far. One of them was Article 30.3 on the subsidiary responsibility of the organizers of a demonstration for incidents that may occur during the demonstration. Finally, the parties agreed that they cannot be held liable “if they have taken the envisaged security measures in communication and compliance with the requirements that might have been imposed by the government agency.”

The stumbling block of Article 17.2 (which allows security forces to set up checks to identify and search people and search vehicles in public places) has also been overcome by an additional provision, the final wording of which is still pending. And it was even considered removing from the future gag law the additional provision guaranteeing the refoulement at the border, known as hot returns, of migrants at the land borders of Ceuta and Melilla. Some parties suggest addressing them in a future reform of immigration law.