Riot police accused protesters during a February 2021 rally in Valencia.Biel Aliño (EFE)
The complex and lengthy negotiations to reform the Citizen Security Law, known as the Gag Law, are entering the final stages of reaching an agreement despite significant differences between the six factions “PSOE, Unidas Podemos, ERC, PNV, EH Bildu and Junts”. The latest stumbling block is six articles on which these parties have been unable to agree since they formed a working group in March to agree on text to be presented to the plenary session of Congress, sources familiar with the content confirm of the negotiations are familiar to EL PAÍS. Of them, three are the ones that cause the biggest discrepancies, according to the same sources. These include the use of riot gear and in particular rubber bullets by police to suppress street riots (Article 23); the one that establishes the sanctions for contempt of agents (Article 37.4), and the one that guarantees the refoulement at the border, known as hot returns, of migrants at the land borders of Ceuta and Melilla (tenth additional provision).
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Of the other three, the same sources stress that agreement is “quite close” but that some differences still need to be overcome for all negotiating parties to add the key to the text reaching the plenary of Congress to get the required ones votes for your approval. These refer to the subsidiary responsibility of the organizers of a demonstration for the incidents that may occur during the same (Article 30.3); the one who punishes “disobedience or resistance to the authority or its agents” with fines ranging from 601 to 30,000 euros, massively used to punish those who broke confinement during the pandemic (Article 36.6), and the one who the security of the armed forces allows installing checks in public places to identify and search persons and to search vehicles (Article 17.2). At the last meeting on Thursday, the six political groups agreed to change the current negotiating format to try to bridge these differences before the end of the year. Unidas Podemos and PNV will submit texts to the other parties to pave the way for the final agreement.
The most controversial point, where positions differ even more, is the use of rubber balls. ERC, Junts “recalling that the Mossos d’Esquadra have banned their use and are using foam bullets, a supposedly less harmful viscoelastic material”, and EH Bildu are calling for their immediate ban. For its part, the PNV supports the model introduced in Euskadi by the Basque government, which limits its application by the Ertzaintza to such exceptional cases that their agents have not fired any in the last 10 years. PSOE and Unidas Podemos tabled an amendment early in negotiations that did not provide for cuts, although he advocated the development of “specific protocols” to “always use the means least harmful to people and avoid those that cause irreparable harm.” . This is the position still held by the Socialists, but not by their government partners, who recently put forward an alternative proposal: the creation of a commission within six months, chaired by the Ombudsman, to study “the transition and replacement” of rubber balls another less damaging material to bring the various positions closer together at this point.
The situation is similar with the article that stipulates “lack of respect and consideration” towards the police as a minor offense punishable by fines of 100 to 600 euros. Since the regulation came into force, this point has been one of the points most frequently used by the security forces for sanctions. The Social Democrats have rejected the two proposals that have been made so far. United We Can’s wanted these sanctions to be limited to “insults or injuries,” as already included in the amendments it tabled alone at the start of the debate. The other, from the PNV, suggested penalizing “expressions or behavior” that discredit the agents’ exercise of the function. The PSOE defends keeping the current text.
The third major stumbling block are the so-called hot repatriations, topical again after the Melilla fence tragedy on June 24, which left at least 23 migrants and refugees dead and after which 470 were returned to Morocco. The Constitutional Court upheld this number in November 2020 based on a judgment handed down by the European Court of Human Rights in February of the same year. However, in this judgment, the guarantee court set conditions for their implementation and expressly prohibited their application to “particularly vulnerable” persons such as minors, pregnant women, elderly or disabled people. The PSOE wants to impose these conditions, but in any case retains the possibility of refusal at the border in the new gag law. However, other groups propose the abolition of this number or at least a reform in order to increase the guarantees for migrants and precisely to avoid applying it to these groups and migrants with the right of refuge in the asylum number.
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deviations
The deviations in the other three articles without an agreement are “minor”, according to several sources consulted. In the case of those who punish disobedience to the police, there was already a proposal for a consensus that said that this would only be punishable if it was accompanied by “physical resistance or physical violence”. According to negotiating circles, the PSOE, which initially gave the green light, is now objecting again. The Socialists did not respond to this newspaper’s request to know their version. In the case of the article that names the organizers and promoters of the demonstrations as “responsible subjects” for the violations it contains, some groups are demanding that it be deleted, believing that they cannot be held responsible for what the participants do the same. To the last point of disagreement, which relates to controls in public spaces, some parties want to add the obligation for the police to communicate these measures “legal restrictions” to the public prosecutor, the ombudsman and, if there are any, regional police with powers in the area in to which it occurs.
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