A recent emotive Utube (shot May 29, the morning after thousand of fans had been celebrating Barças European Cup win) showed police using violence against people from the encampment in Plaza Cataluña and against two individuals in particular: an old tramp and a man in a wheelchair. The media naturally made a meal out of the whole affair and yesterday Counsellor Puig who is responsible for security in the region made a statement to the Catalan Parliament.
He admitted that (he) and the police had made errors in attempts to 'control' the population in the square. He stated that: one, timing (early morning) was not ideal, but he had wanted to avoid a 'night attack' which would have shown that the police were trying to dislodge the indignados from their encampment; two
police had understimated the violence the campers would use;
As excuse he stated some troublesome Barca fans had gone into the camp and used missiles from there against the police. Police had sought dialogue but couldn't find anyone to talk to who was a representative for the group of campers.
He denied that police initiated any violence and that they only reacted to violence used against them. Equally he denied that the police beat up a tramp and the man in the wheelchair stating that the latter was used as a human shield.
Furthermore he criticised the media for showing biased film footage and for releasing the address of a policeman involved which resulted in the officer's house being graffitied.
He asked parliament what kind of public order they wanted in the country - one in which violence against the police is condoned and goes unpunished?
The situation is, like most clashes between police and demonstrators, not black and white. Aggression gives rise to aggression. Police get their blanket orders to contain any crowds whether passive or violent but the police are individuals too. Security chiefs don't always get it right. No politician or police chief likes carrying the can because it can mean political death. The best way is to spread blame around thinly on your supporters and thickly on the opposition, if possible further tarnishing thir image - in this case the indignados camping in the square - who are not popular in an area with businesses which feed off tourism. Whether the media were biased in (not) mentioning/showing the violence is debatable (May 9 was the first mention I found in the right wing La Vanguardia for example) but what is not debatable is the unfaked extreme and excessive violence filmed.
Unfortunately the police have a poor record all over Europe for the way that they control political demonstrations - it's true of course that they have an extremely difficult job but there is no excuse for unnecessary violence. G8 and G20 meetings are notably political flashpoints as are demonstrations against human rights, racism and unemployment as seen in the UK, Greece Italy or France - especially when someone is killed or seriously injured as a result of police action. Of course it is also difficult to assess how much provocation of police is used - a male drunk can be extremely unreasonable and violent and a large crowd even worse. In the past Cataluña's Mossos have come in for much criticism for over-zealous LAPD style control of people they arrested. The problem for them now is modern technology has made police actions instantly visible and counter-action possible to the whole world through social networks Twitter, Facebook and Utube which now act as a balance to the battery of security cameras around the world secretly filming our daily lives. Whichever side of the socio-political fence you sit on you are no longer invisible and Sr Puig and his Mossos should have known that.
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