The Mossos will not sanction the two agents who infiltrated a teachers' assembly

BarcelonaAlmost half a year later, the infiltration of two Mossos d'Esquadra agents into a teachers' assembly continues to cause a stir. This Tuesday, Superintendent Carles Hernández, head of the police's General Information Commissariat, the body on which the police action in question depended, appeared before the Parliament of Catalonia. The superintendent said that the reserved information opened to investigate this controversial case has already been archived. Hernández reported that it is closed, concluding that there was "no violation" of the legal system, although the report instructs the force to supervise such actions more closely.

In fact, Hernández explained that he has already increased supervision since it happened, as these actions now go through him directly, although he made it clear that he has not received any new request to carry out an intervention of this type. Back then, the action was validated by the territorial chiefs of the station and he reiterated that neither the Minister of Interior, Núria Parlon, nor the then-Director General, Josep Lluís Trapero, were aware of it. The superintendent refused to apologize, a fact that surprised the parliamentary groups, as he did not express himself in the same terms as Minister Núria Parlon when she appeared before the chamber. "I do not ask for forgiveness because I believe I do not have to ask for forgiveness," stated Hernández. Parlon did ask for forgiveness and said it had been a mistake.Hernández did not want to be so forceful. "I can understand and I share that it is a poorly planned and executed action," he stated, but insisted that "no rights were violated" and that his commissariat has the task of evaluating risks associated with labor conflicts, and that is what the agents were doing, and he reiterated that they respected the legal framework. In this sense, he said that "it was not an infiltration, but an operational task of obtaining preventive information to guarantee all rights." He described it as a "discreet" operation in a public assembly, in which the agents did not use any double identity, but they did lie when they were discovered. In this way, he said that "the objective was not to obtain information" from the assembly as such, but to use it only for the demonstrations and road blockades that were foreseen.

Since 2011

In any case, he said that this function of collecting operational information for social and labor conflict is assigned to the Mossos Information Commissariat since 2011, and he assured that it is supported by various international, state, and Catalan legislation, and the jurisprudence of various Spanish and international courts. The intendant ended his speech by saying that if society or Parliament considers that these actions are not morally correct or should be changed, they will change them.

In turn, the opposition accused Hernández of having "disauthorized" Parlon for not having apologized and for having been less forceful with this action. The CUP also demanded his resignation. Hernández announced that he will not resign and that his position is at the disposal of the police Headquarters. "Political and operational criteria are not always aligned," he acknowledged. "I can understand that someone might consider that action inappropriate," he stated. During the session, the new director general of the force, Ferran López, and the new chief commissioner, Sílvia Catà, were among the public, as well as the former chief, Miquel Esquius. Hernández also said that they are pending three judicial proceedings opened at the TSJC due to complaints filed by unions.