The Platform No to Citizen Insecurity, made up of more than 30 unions and associations from all the police forces in Spain, will gather today in front of the doors of Congress in protest at the repeal of the Citizen Security Law agreed between the Executive of Pedro Sánchez and EH Bildu. And today the parliamentary procedures begin for what they have defined from the platform as “an attack on all citizens”, since they will see security in the streets diminished, and an “attack on all police officers who will lose the means to guarantee citizen security.
The organizations, let us remember more than 30, point out that this reform occurs in a very negative context for the Security Forces and Corps, with “demoralized and weakened personnel, in a scenario of aggravated violence and with a fragrant loss of the principle of authority.” . A situation that, as they added, “leads to an increase in attacks on police officers and a dangerous judicialization of the work of the agents with a total lack of support from the Government of Spain.”
From the platform they have already warned that with this repeal “the police and civil guards will find it more difficult, and sometimes almost impossible, to carry out their work, and those who will suffer the consequences will be the citizens, who will be harmed, since the will of a few will be enough to curtail their rights and freedoms.
Against police effectiveness
On the other hand, they criticize the repeal of this law “while turning its back on the historical demands of the National Police regarding salaries, Equalization with the regional police, retirements and allowances; the working day or the Right to Strike among others. “. In his opinion, the modifications that are intended to be made to the Citizen Security Law “will directly harm police effectiveness, with the consequent lack of protection for society.” And they add that the proposed reforms “go in the opposite direction to the needs of the Security Forces and Bodies to face with guarantees the new challenges we face: high intensity crime, violent youth gangs, international mafias or technological crime.”
It must be remembered that the majority of unions and professional associations reacted with strong criticism on October 3 after the announcement by EH Bildu, which they censure as the “heir of ETA”, that they had reached an agreement with PSOE and Sumar to resume the negotiation that seeks to reform the ‘gag law’ by agreeing, among other points, to replace rubber balls with other less harmful means.
It was also agreed to reduce fines for lack of respect for authority agents and for disobedience or that hot returns at the border be regulated in the Immigration Law, reinforcing the right to asylum.
In the last legislature, the police unions already organized several demonstrations against the plans of the parliamentary groups to reform the so-called “gag law”, a negotiation initiated through a bill from the PNV and which ended up running aground due to the “red lines” marked by the PSOE and the Ministry of the Interior, headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska.