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Police unions are against the changes to the law, saying the changes will “make their job more difficult.” The change that has caused the most controversy among officers is the requirement that citizens must ask the authorities for permission before filming and posting videos of police officers.
With the aim of defending “their ability to carry out their work”, thousands of policemen marched this Saturday in Madrid, Spain, against the Government’s plan to reform the controversial Citizen Security Law, approved by the previous conservative Executive in 2015.
Police officers who took to the streets to speak out against the law reforms were joined by politicians from the three main Spanish conservative parties.
The “Gag Law,” as it is known by its critics, has been singled out for years for giving too much power to national security forces and weakening citizens’ rights, such as freedom of expression and the right to protest.
Currently, the law allows authorities to fine the media for disseminating unauthorized images of the police, strictly limits demonstrations, and imposes large fines on violators.
However, those who defend it affirm that if the changes are made to the law “it will make things easier for criminals. Citizens will be less protected and it will be easy for criminals, “said Antonio, a Civil Guard agent who participated in the march.
What reforms would the law have?
Legislators on the left have proposed that the taking of photographs in the middle of a demonstration or altercation, between the agents and the civilians, should no longer be classified as a serious crime; But the police fear that this will make their officers easily identifiable and therefore risk retaliation.
“There is strong opposition against the reform of this law, it is a law against the police, against our forces and we are not going to allow it,” said Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, of the far-right party Vox.
The police would also have to use less harmful materials in the protests, a request that has been made after reports of several people seriously injured by rubber bullets fired by security agents.
With regard to the protesters who incite violent acts during the protests, they would be detained only for two hours and not for six hours as stipulated by the current law; and for those who are fined, they will be required to pay proportionally to their income.
“This law gives us a series of uncertainties to work at a technical level and also for our physical security, but citizens are the most affected,” said Eugenio Zambrano, union leader of the Central Sindical Independiente y de Servants (CSIF).
Amnesty International and the Office of the Ombudsman of Spain have called for the law to be changed.
However, the law would still have to overcome some obstacles in the negotiations of the lower house of Parliament, among them, managing to withdraw the article that prohibited holding protests in the vicinity of the Congress or Senate buildings, as well as the one that gave permission. to border guards to push back immigrants who cross the border.
Currently, the organizers of the protests must notify the authorities in advance, a measure that the left-wing government also asks to be changed and that the Spanish Constitutional Court ruled last year as unconstitutional.
Both the far-right Vox party and the Popular Party, which passed the original security law when in power, invited their leaders to mobilize against the reform of the controversial “Gag Law.”
With Ap and Reuters
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