32 EWN
www.euroweeklynews.com
8 - 14 November 2018
‘Gag’ law fines AN average of 80 people a day have been fined in Spain under security measures which some have branded a ‘gag law,’ according to a human rights NGO. Amnesty International, which has been campaigning to repeal the Citizen Safety Law, said the state may have made almost €25 million since the measures were introduced in 2015. The NGO said their calculations, based on Interior Ministry data, may have underestimated the number of fines due to government figures excluding those from Basque and Catalan police forces. Esteban Beltran, a director with Amnesty International, said the law had made it risky for people to peacefully exercise their human rights. “This legislation has been
CREDIT: No Somos Delito, via Twitter
By Joe Gerrard
SANCTIONED: The Citizen Safety Law remains controversial. worsening the exercise of the rights of peaceful assembly, free expression and assembly and exchanging information since it came into force more than three years ago,” Beltran
said. “It has been used against journalists and legitimate forms of protest and social activism,” he added. The claim comes as the
NGO launched a petition to have the law repealed. The ruling left leaning Partido Socialista (PSOE) had planned to reform parts of the law covering filming police
officers and other measures but backtracked earlier this year. The Citizen Safety Law was passed by the conservative Partido Popular (PP) when it was in government. It restricted demonstrations near the Congress of Deputies and Senate and taking ‘unauthorised’ pictures of police officers. It also required protest organisers to notify authorities before holding demonstrations. Fines for breaking the law range from €100 to €600,000 for the most serious offences. The PP argued it would make demonstrations freer and safer because it would help to curb violence during protests. The PSOE, the opposition when the law was passed, said the law represented an attempt from the PP was attempting to create a ‘police state.’
NEWS
Biker dies on mountain road EMERGENCY services have confirmed that a motorcyclist has died after falling from their machine in an accident on the infamous road from the Costa del Sol to Ronda. The incident happened in the municipality of Parauta on the winding, mountain road - the A397 - that runs from San Pedro on the coast to the Serrania de Ronda. The road is very popular with bikers, particularly at the weekends, with its challenging twists and turns. There have been numerous biker deaths on the road despite the installation of radar speed cameras and regular patrols by the Guardia Civil police.