Thousands of police officers protest in Madrid against the reform of the citizen security law

Thousands of policemen protested this Saturday in the streets of Madrid against the reform of the Citizen Security Law, known as the “gag law”, approved in 2015 by the previous right-wing government and that the socialist executive chaired by Pedro Sánchez plans to amend.

The reform aims to adapt the law to the recent jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, but according to those responsible for the forces of order, it leaves them defenseless, more exposed and deprived of authority.

Waving Spanish and union flags, the protesters, accompanied by right-wing politicians, walked towards the headquarters of the Interior Ministry.

“We say no to this reform. We believe that the law must be adapted to current times, but that the rights of the guarantors of security should never be trampled on (…) and neither should citizen insecurity be created, which we believe can be achieved with this reform, “he said. Miguel Ángel Gómez, president of Jusapol, an association made up of police officers and the Civil Guard.

The law eliminates, for example, the prohibition to disseminate images of police officers without prior authorization, relaxes the rules of demonstrations without authorization, stipulates that people who are detained and refuse to identify themselves can be detained in the police station for two hours instead. of six and stipulates that the amount of fines in case of infringement will depend on the solvency of the protester.

The leader of the Popular Party (PP, right), Pablo Casado, also present at the protest, claimed to fully support the protesters’ demands.

“It is something unusual that for the first time in a democracy, those who risk their lives to protect us have to demonstrate because they are left unprotected,” he said.

Also participating in the protest were the leader of the far-right Vox party, Santiago Abascal, and Inés Arrimadas, head of the center-right Ciudadanos party.

This law “makes the police more unprotected and criminalizes, always puts the focus of doubt on the police and is more on the side of those who attack the police,” he said.

“We are tired because in Spain criminals have more protection than police officers,” he added.

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