The alleged attacker behind an incident in Barcelona's Ciutadella park last weekend has been released on bail this Wednesday afternoon. The judge at Barcelona's court of instruction number 32 issued a restraining order for him to stay 500m (550 yards) away from the victim at the request of prosecutors. The decision comes after the man was arrested by Spanish police this morning, following the woman filing a complaint with them yesterday.
The man declined to testify before the duty judge. The investigation, for at least one charge of light injuries with an aggravating factor of discrimination over origin, will now be the responsibility of court of instruction number 7. That court will also consider the complaint the man filed against the woman.
The victim filed a complaint with the Spanish police yesterday. As the incident happened in Catalonia, it would have been more normal to file a report with the Mossos d'Esquadra, the Catalan police force, but she decided to go to the Spanish police instead, accompanied by a lawyer provided by Ciudadanos, the party her husband is a member of. The party also presented a complaint to prosecutors for a hate crime.
The man, for his part, filed a complaint with the Mossos, the force which had responded to the original incident and was investigating it. The Catalan police haven't discounted the possibility the attack was politically motivated, but cannot comment yet before they have the victim's statement.
The incident
According to the Mossos, the attack took place during an argument between a man taking his mother, who uses a wheelchair, for a walk, and a woman. According to officers who intervened, the man rudely criticised the victim's children for playing at removing yellow loops and throwing them on the ground. He reproached them for "dirtying the city".
When the mother defended her children, the attacker confronted her, shouting that she should go back to her country. The woman is a naturalised Spanish citizen, originally from Russia. He then punched her in the face. They do not report any political allusion to the yellow loops, the political prisoners or the independence movement.