Pro-independence Catalan MP Laura Borràs has complained that this Tuesday at lunchtime she was harassed in central Madrid by police officers taking part in a protest called by the police union Jusapol, right in front of the Spanish Congress. Both Borràs and the press officer for her party, Together for Catalonia (JxCat), were chased by protesters down the street as they were trying to take a taxi.
"Incredible: our press officer and I were chased from Calle Cedaceros down to number 40 Carrera de San Jerónimo by people with masks and Spanish flags," said Borràs via Twitter. She also criticized the attitude of members of the Congress's security service. "We requested protection from the security service at Congress in order to get a taxi and the answer was touching: 'What for, if they are police officers?'" she recounted.
The situation in front of the lower house of the Spanish parliament was quite tense, as protesters breached the security perimeter and the access doors to the Congressional building had to be closed. After the refusal of the two National Police officers on security duty to provide protection to the MP and press chief, "with the doors closed due to the danger from protesters who were left to their own devices", parliamentary employees of the JxCat and BNG parties finally accompanied them through the tunnel that connects the two Congress buildings, to take a taxi which was waiting outside the cordoned-off area.
On the way from the Congress door to the taxi, the JxCat deputy was verbally abused by protesters. "The insults were brutal: 'bitch', 'fucking Catalans'," says Borràs, who described how surprised the employees who accompanied them were, and the taxi driver as well, with the passive response of the police officers not involved in the protest.
Once in the taxi, Borràs contacted the speaker of Congress, Meritxell Batet, to report the failure of the police officers to help. Borràs called on Batet "to find out how deputies could have been denied protection when masked protesting police officers with flares were threatening us as they were."
Laura Borràs, shortly after the incident, said that the facts showed that "security is not for everyone" and added that if the protesters had been Catalans instead of police officers, "they would already be before the National Audience court".