Unauthorized demonstrations near the Spanish Parliament could see participants being fined 600,000 euro ($810,000) under a new Citizen Security bill being introduced by Spain’s ruling rightist Popular Party, local media reported.
Under the legislation, which will likely soon be approved in
parliament, “social uproar” leading to harassment or
insults of officials is to be made a criminal offense. Masked
disorderly conduct could also incur charges. The legislation will
likely be drafted by the Cabinet next Friday.
Unsanctioned protests outside political offices will be outlawed,
alongside disorderly conduct by people hindering any means of
identification, while people offering sexual services in the
vicinity of children’s play areas will also be made illegal,
according to Spanish newspaper 20minutos.es.
Other offenses deemed serious are to include publishing images or
personal data of policemen, interrupting public events,
possession of illegal drugs, vandalism of public property and
drinking alcohol in the street.
The fines will vary between 1,000 euro and 30,000 euro
($1,350-$40,000) for more minor offenses. However, just insulting
a policeman could see a citizen landed with a 30,000-euro fine.
“We’re not looking to punish [people] more, just to reduce the
discretionary margin for illicit conduct and not stumble into
judicial limbo for ‘new’ acts like the escraches,” Spain’s
Huffington Post quoted the Interior Ministry as saying.
“Escraches,” a kind of demonstration popular in Spain and Latin
America, where protesters lobby outside the homes or offices of
officials, have escalated this year, most notably those staged by
the Movement of Mortgage Victims. The group lobbied outside
politicians’ homes to protest the repossession of homes.
The law will first have to pass through the commission of
undersecretaries, then analyzed in the Council of Ministers,
followed by a State Council opinion and the General Council of
the Judiciary, before being sent back to be discussed as organic
law in the courts.