A National Police chief, regarding the 1-O: "For the riot police it did not differ in anything from a Champions League final"

BarcelonaThe commanders and the rest of the agents acting as witnesses shield the actions of the four national police officers who are sitting in the dock for the rubber bullet that mutilated Roger Español's eye during 1-O. This Thursday, a riot police superior downplayed the fact that the shotgunner fired with the weapon parallel to the ground, and claimed that the riot police operation was similar to other actions: "It did not differ in any way from a Champions League or Copa Libertadores final, a visit from the Pope, or going to help with the DANA or any other catastrophe".

The witness, the first of about fifty police officers summoned to testify on the second day of the trial, explained that in the days prior to October 1, 2017, they held "briefings" to inform the agents and convey the instructions for the operation. In these meetings, the agents received orders to fire towards the ground and with an energy reducer, a piece that can be attached to the shotgun and causes the projectile to exit with less power, because they already anticipated that the protesters would be very close. Even so, the police commander defended that "the bounce is not mandatory, nor is direct fire prohibited" when aiming directly at the body.

In contrast, a shotgunner who testified afterwards asserted that they must always fire by bouncing the projectile: "The ball always with a bounce on the ground, it is what we have been taught". A third witness, also a shotgunner and who was part of the same operation at the Ramon Llull School, explained that the bounce of rubber bullets is unpredictable "because the ball comes out in a different way each time".

Orders from superiors

The interrogations are also focusing on whether there were grounds to use rubber bullets and who gave the order, a key point to clarify the responsibility not only of the inspector and the two sub-inspectors sitting in the dock with the riot officer who shot Español, who are the only police officers to reach trial for 1-O and face 13 years in prison. The witnesses have agreed that the order is always given by a hierarchical superior and is transmitted in a chain down to the riot officers, who from then on choose the specific moment to shoot.

The commander who testified first thing in the morning admitted that the anti-riot equipment regulations condition the use of rubber bullets on there being a risk to the physical integrity of the officers. According to him, there was "a significant risk" because the protesters were being "violent" and had thrown objects at them in a "so aggressive" way that in his opinion justified the charges, even though in the images of the moment Español appears walking next to other people when he collapses from the impact. A shield bearer who was part of the device also referred to this "aggression". He said that they were insulting them by calling them "españolazo", and that they threw stones, two lighters, and a bottle at him, which hit his shield and boot "without causing injury".

Furthermore, the police officers who have testified also claim that before the shots there was an attempt at mediation and that they had fired blanks –detonations without projectiles– to warn the protesters who, according to the first commander, were following them "in an organized manner". In a stretch of about fifty meters, which makes up half a city block on Sardenya street, 48 blanks and 17 rubber bullets were fired.