The Government condemns the police aggression against a minor for carrying an Estelada

BarcelonaUntil this Tuesday, and because the press asked him about it, the Government had not commented on the police aggression against a Catalan minor who was carrying an estelada last Sunday evening, prior to the match between Elche and Barça. "From the Government we condemn the use of this violence, in light of the images we have all seen, of the aggression against this young man," stated the executive's spokesperson, Sílvia Paneque, at the press conference following the executive council meeting. Thus, Salvador Illa's government has regretted this police action and has emphasized the need for it to be investigated. In parallel, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, defended this Tuesday that the internal ex officio investigation into the National Police is what "is appropriate" and that the corps "is the first interested party in analyzing and excluding any action that implies a minimum deviation from proportionality" in the use of force.

The teenager was brutally beaten by agents of the National Police after security forces carried out a confiscation of estelada flags. The minor was held at police facilities, where he spent the night, and was subsequently released. The images show how he received several baton blows before he tried to defend himself, and then, once subdued on the ground, an agent delivered an elbow strike and they still hit his face when he was already being taken away in handcuffs.

In this regard, Futbol Club Barcelona has offered to take legal charge of the case against the police action and has strongly condemned the events. The Catalan executive's silence until this Tuesday had not only contrasted with the Barça club, but also politically, as complaints had proliferated from all pro-independence factions and Comuns, in addition to the fan groups and numerous social entities. Critical of the head of Government's attitude, former Generalitat president Carles Puigdemont has once again attacked President Salvador Illa this Tuesday: "Why are you silent? Where are you hiding, "government for everyone"? Your indifference to the criminal abuses of the Spanish police makes you unworthy," he stated.

Paneque was asked about this silence of about two days and he avoided the question despite the opposition's criticism: "We hope that today's statements will give them more peace of mind," he said. At the same time, the spokesperson explained that "the Government, through the delegation of the Spanish government in Catalonia," was informed that "a process of information had been opened to analyze the facts," that is, an internal investigation within the National Police.

The minister also asserted that she is not aware that the Government has contacted the victim, although she stressed that they have "all the mechanisms to file a lawsuit or a complaint if they consider it so." Until now, before entering the press conference, this right had not been exercised by the affected person, as she recalled.

Regarding the National Police, the majority union SUP has issued a statement of "total support" for the agents who intervened in the action, which it has defined as "impeccable" and has described the victim as an "aggressor" and "violent," even though the images dismantle this narrative. Precisely for this reason, they cling to the fact that "a few seconds on social media" cannot be taken as a reference because "the crimes" they believe the minor may have committed are not visible: incitement to hatred against other fans, threats, and "the use of the flag" as a "tool for his actions," in their opinion.

Offensive

This Monday, the delegate of the Spanish government in Catalonia, the also socialist Carlos Prieto, had already taken action. He spoke with the delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, and they made public that an internal investigation had been opened within the police force due to the controversial action. The highest Catalan authority to react on Monday was the president of the Parliament, the Junts member Josep Rull, who sent a letter to the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, demanding explanations for a violence that was entirely "disproportionate".

Junts has formulated an extensive battery of questions regarding the legal basis for the removal of esteladas. In the case of ERC, they have submitted a request for the Minister of the Interior to appear before Congress. And in the judicial arena, the pro-independence collective Acció Cassandra announced the filing of a complaint with the district court of Elche.