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Amnesty International demands immediate release of jailed Catalan leaders

Amnesty International has called for the immediate release of two jailed Catalan leaders, insisting that the "vague" and "overly broad" interpretation of sedition used to jail them could have a profound effect on the right to protest in Spain.

Published: 20 November 2019 15:53 CET
Amnesty International demands immediate release of jailed Catalan leaders
Photo: AFP

Spain's Supreme Court on October 14th sentenced nine Catalan separatist leaders to lengthy jail terms over an abortive 2017 independence bid, setting off a wave of angry protests that repeatedly descended into violence.

“It is clear that the Supreme Court's interpretation of the crime of sedition was overly broad and resulted in criminalising legitimate acts of protest,” said Daniel Joloy, a senior policy advisor with Amnesty International.

The report focused on the cases of Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart, two activists who were sentenced to nine years in prison for ignoring court orders by leading a protest against a police operation designed to halt the referendum.

The organization considers that the nine-year convictions for sedition handed down to Sànchez and Cuixart “violate their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.” These convictions “must be quashed,” the organisation said.

 

The other jailed separatist leaders were politicians rather than rights activists. The statement published by Amnesty International did not spell out in details the group's views on what should happen to them.

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PROTESTS

Calls for special police tactics to be available across Sweden

The chairwoman of the Police Association West Region has said that police special tactics, known as Särskild polistaktik or SPT, should be available across Sweden, to use in demonstrations similar to those during the Easter weekend.

Published: 24 April 2022 15:56 CEST
Calls for special police tactics to be available across Sweden

SPT, (Särskild polistaktik), is a tactic where the police work with communication rather than physical measures to reduce the risk of conflicts during events like demonstrations.

Tactics include knowledge about how social movements function and how crowds act, as well as understanding how individuals and groups act in a given situation. Police may attempt to engage in collaboration and trust building, which they are specially trained to do.

Katharina von Sydow, chairwoman of the Police Association West Region, told Swedish Radio P4 West that the concept should exist throughout the country.

“We have nothing to defend ourselves within 10 to 15 metres. We need tools to stop this type of violent riot without doing too much damage,” she said.

SPT is used in the West region, the South region and in Stockholm, which doesn’t cover all the places where the Easter weekend riots took place.

In the wake of the riots, police unions and the police’s chief safety representative had a meeting with the National Police Chief, Anders Tornberg, and demanded an evaluation of the police’s work. Katharina von Sydow now hopes that the tactics will be introduced everywhere.

“This concept must exist throughout the country”, she said.

During the Easter weekend around 200 people were involved in riots after a planned demonstration by anti-Muslim Danish politician Rasmus Paludan and his party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), that included the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

Police revealed on Friday that at least 104 officers were injured in counter-demonstrations that they say were hijacked by criminal gangs intent on targeting the police. 

Forty people were arrested and police are continuing to investigate the violent riots for which they admitted they were unprepared. 

Paludan’s application for another demonstration this weekend was rejected by police.

In Norway on Saturday, police used tear gas against several people during a Koran-burning demonstration after hundreds of counter-demonstrators clashed with police in the town of Sandefjord.

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