Barcelona's court of instruction number 7 has agreed to open an investigation into the complaints against the actions of the Spanish state's security forces in the Catalan capital on 1st October. The judge rejects one by one the argument the Public Prosecutor used to defend the Spanish police's intervention and warns that, if it's confirmed that they acted disproportionately, it will be necessary to "clarify the corresponding responsibilities". In his opinion, the recordings made on the day show, against the Public Prosecutor's thesis, that "normal civil coexistence was affected".
"Normal civil coexistence was affected, at the moment that there existed disturbances and injured people in at least 17 different places in the city in the same morning", writes the judge, noting that the Spanish National Police themselves admitted having shot rounds into the air and having shot rubber bullets. His report warns that discarding the concept of "generalised violence" cannot be used to "minimise the gravity" of the events that have to be investigated.
The examining magistrate, Francisco Miralles Carrió, also discounts the Public Prosecutor's Office's arguments that the vote had been declared illegal, saying that the illegality and the alleged crime of disobedience would be in the calling for and organisation of the referendum. “What is not illegal or illicit is that the public, called by their regional administration, would go to the voting locations denoted for them in public establishments opened for the purpose", saying that they should be able to take part in any scheduled activity, "even putting a piece of paper with no legal value in a ballot box".
Barcelona's Court of Instruction number 7 has agreed, facing a flood of medical reports and complaints, to investigate the action of the Spanish police in 26 polling stations in the city last Sunday, which led to at least 130 injured and damages in one of the centres. The Public Prosecutor proposed only investigating the events in Niño Jesús school.
"We find ourselves in front of a still undetermined number of alleged crimes of injury", the judge writes, the majority light, but also the possibility of other crimes, given that some of the reports include allegations of having been insulted while being attacked.
Responsibilities
In the dispositive section, the judge agrees to open separate parts for each of the centres affected to collect testimonies and reports; to offer "actions to all the injured people", for which he calls for the relevant medical reports; and requires the police involved to provide a detailed report on their actions, with the express listing of the ID numbers of the agents and the role of each. They also ask for information on injuries reported by the agents themselves, whether they were "caused by third parties or derived from their own actions".
Likewise, the judge requires all the resolutions dictated on the reported events and the instructions given to the police corps; requires a report from the delegation of the Spanish government to Catalonia that includes all the verbal and written instructions given to the police forces, indicating who was responsible for the organisation and their specific functions. They also ask for information with respect to the criteria by which the places to take action were chosen and the reason why the interventions stopped at midday.
Finally, he calls on the Board of Security of Catalonia to provide the minutes of the meetings it held during the week prior to 1st October; it offer the Catalan government the possibility to open actions against the damage suffered by facilities it owns; and requests the media to provide the images they may have related to the events.
List of polling stations where Sunday's events are under investigation:
- IES Jaume Balmes, c/Pau Claris 121: 4 injured
- Escola Prosperitat, c/del Molí núm. 59: 5 injured
- Centre de Formación d'adults Freire, c/Via Favencia núm.254: 1 injured
- Escola Oficial de Idiomas, Av. Jordà núm. 18: 4 injured
- Escola Mediterránea, Passeig Marítim núm. 5: 16 injured
- CEIP Tibidabo, c/Joaquím Valls 21-23: 2 injured
- CEIP Estel, c/Felip II 49-51: 9 injured (damage to the facilities has also been reported)
- IES Joan Fuster, Pz. Ferran Reyes núm. 2: 8 injured
- CAP El Guinardo, c/Teodoro Llorente 26: 10 injured
- CEIP Ramón Llull, c/ Consell de Cent 490: 19 injured
- Serveis Centrals del Departament d'Ensenyament, c/Via Augusta 202: 6 injured
- CEIP Aiguamarina, c/Casals i Cuberó 265: 1 injured
- CEIP Víctor Català, c/De la Font de Canyelles núm. 28: 1 injured
- IES Pau Claris, C/Passeig de Lluis Companys núm. 18: 9 injured
- CEIP Els Horts, Rambla Prim 217: 2 injured
- CEIP Marenostrum, Passeig Valldaura 12: cap injured
- Centre Educatiu Projecte, c/Yebra núm. 10: 4 injured
- Escoles Pies de Sant Antoni, Ronda de Sant Pau 72: 4 injured
- CEIP Àgora, c/ del Marne 2: 10 injured
- Escola de Joves Trinitat Vella, c/Sunyol i Gras 3: 1 injured
- IES Joan Boscà, Av.Esplugues 40 /Ausias March, Av. Esplugues 38: 2 injured
- CEIP Mas Casanovas, c/Mas Casanovas 61-63: 1 injured
- CEIP Tomás Moro, c/Miguel Hernández 7-11: no injured
- CEIP Dolors Monserdà - Santa Pau, Av. Vallvidrera 9: no injured
- CEIP Pau Romeva, c/Pisuerga 1: 7 injured
- Escola Infant Jesús, c/Avenir 19: 4 injured
The full report, in Spanish:
These figures could increase in the coming days if more complaints or medical reports are submitted to the court.
Also out of Barcelona
Similarly, procedings have been opened over the police violence in courts around Catalonia. Specifically, in El Vendrell, La Seu d'Urgell, Lleida, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, el Prat de Llobregat, Granollers, Mataró, Amposta, Rubí, Figueres, Manresa, Martorell, Mollet del Vallès, Puigcerdà, Reus, Sabadell, Solsona, Tarragona, Terrassa, Tremp and Vilanova i la Geltrú.