Officers of Spain's National Police Corps have reportedly complained about a video circulating in private Whatsapp groups showing a man "assassinating" a photograph of the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, along with pictures of four other politicians in the Socialist and Podemos government: Pablo Iglesas, Irene Montero, Pablo Echenique and Fernando Grande-Marlaska. The video was posted in a Tweet by journalist Miquel Ramos.
Prácticas de tiro con las fotos de @PabloIglesias @IreneMontero @sanchezcastejon y Marlaska. La escopeta que utiliza quien dispara a cara descubierta parece una Franchi SPS 350, una de las que usa la @policia pic.twitter.com/pniJ4NQV2N
— Miquel Ramos (@Miquel_R) June 18, 2020
"Target practice with the photos of @PabloIglesias @IreneMontero @sanchezcastejon and Marlaska. The shotgun used by the uncovered-face shooter looks like a Franchi SPS 350, a type used by the Spanish National Police"— Miquel Ramos
Although the gunman who fires the shots into the portraits of the five Socialist and left-wing government officials shows his face to the camera, his identity is not at present known. Journalist Miquel Ramos refers to the situation, perhaps ironically, as "target practice" but it is clearly a staged performance intended to make a political point. Having reviewed the faces of the five politicians, the cameraperson says the word "Sentence!" whereupon the shooter takes his weapon and fires against each of the targets, one by one.
Ramos notes that the weapon looks like a Franchi SPS 350, one of "those used by the Spanish National Police". Spanish deputy PM Pablo Iglesias denounced the video via Twitter: "Not even the death threats of these far-right pseudo-commands will distract us from our work to strengthen social justice and an economic recovery that leaves no one behind."
Ni siquiera las amenazas de muerte de estos pseudocomandos de la ultraderecha van a distraernos de nuestra tarea de reforzar la justicia social y una recuperación económica que no deje a nadie atrás. Frente a los ultras: justicia social, democracia, libertad, Gobierno✊ pic.twitter.com/lBjGdO2bvb
— Pablo Iglesias 🔻 (@PabloIglesias) June 18, 2020
"Against the extremists" said Iglesias in his tweet, "we offer social justice, democracy, freedom, government."
Three of the political figures whose portraits are used in the video are from the Podemos party: Iglesas, Montero, and Echenique. Then there is the Socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez, along with Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the former judge and interior minister who has lately been in the news for his dismissal of senior Civil Guard officers.