An officer of Catalonia's Mossos d'Esquadra police gave a colossal slap in the face to a man who was sitting on the ground in Olot (Garrotxa county). Social media exploded after the circulation of a video in which you can clearly see how three policemen from the Catalan police corps responded to an individual who was apparently calling out in the street in the early hours of the morning. The policemen approached but within seconds one of the officers decided to use physical violence on the seated man and slapped him very hard in the face. The events took place on Thursday morning in the historic centre of the Catalan city, in Girona province.
As Catalan police sources explained to ElCaso.cat, the Mossos became aware of the details of the incident on Thursday afternoon and brought the case to the attention of the regional police management in Girona, whose Internal Affairs division will now clarify the facts to find out exactly what happened. No further information is available at this time, but it has been confirmed that the police slap in the face to the man sitting on the ground in Olot did take place. However, beyond the video that went viral on social media, events that occurred leading up to the police assault are unknown.
What the Olot footage shows
At the start of the video, it can be clearly see how the man on the ground speaks loudly to the three officers who are approaching him, asking "Tell me what I was doing" several times. The three officers approach the individual and repeatedly ask him, at least three times, to be quiet. Finally, one of them slaps him with his left hand, causing the alleged victim to collapse on to his back in the middle of the street. The policeman, at that moment, urges him again to shut up "for once". "Did you understand me? You're bothering me. You're going to sleep. Are you feeling better already?", can be heard in the recording recorded from a nearby balcony and which went viral in the hours after the incident on several Twitter accounts such as the local news blog Infogarrotxa.