What are the proposed changes to Spain's controversial 'gag law'?
Spain's Citizen Security Law, long controversial due its perceived limits on free speech, is set to be amended by the Spanish government. The proposed changes, however, have not proven popular with Spanish police and the government are still wrangling over the detail.
In 2015, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative People's Party (PP) government passed a law known as the 'Citizen Security Law.'
Pedro Sánchez's PSOE-led coalition government is now trying to reform the law by changing the rules on recording and sharing images of police officers, the organising spontaneous protests, and the use of rubber bullets by police, among other things.
Though some kind of legislation like this (namely the regulation of protests and policing) has existed in Spain since as far back as the 1980s, the reforms made by the Rajoy government went a step further and bolstered police powers to crack down on protests and free speech, as well as introducing punishments for things like recording or photographing police officers, arranging protests without officially registering it beforehand, and even 'disrespecting' police officers.
Drawn up partly in reaction to Spain's famous 15M anti-austerity demonstrations, after the wave of protest action in the early 2010's many in the Spanish police felt they had been unprepared and without sufficient legal bandwidth to properly prosecute (though some would say repress) protesters. In response, Rajoy's government rectified these perceived shortcomings in law.
For some, the changes were necessary and served to rebalance a system that offered more protections to criminals than police officers.
For others, the changes were so reactionary, such a blatant overcorrection, that they were widely viewed as anti-free speech measures and quickly became known as the 'gag law' (ley mordaza) both in Spain and abroad. That's why the Sánchez government is now trying to reform it.
Gag Law
Under the gag law, anyone who organises or takes part in an “unauthorised protest” (that is, without registering it with the authorities beforehand) is liable to fines of between €30,000 and €600,000, especially so if the demonstration took place near certain locations, such as the Spanish parliament.
Similarly, disrupting public events like religious ceremonies, public speeches or events and even sports matches, could land you with a fine of between €600 and €300,000.
The law also made photographing and recording police officers illegal and punishable by fines. Incredibly, 'disrespecting' a police officer was also made punishable by hefty fines, as was not carrying your ID with you at all times.
Using social media to arrange protests is also punishable under the 2015 law, a legal attempt to cut protests off at the organisational level as social media had played a huge role in the organisation of the 15M protests.
The gag law has also been used a legal justification for a crackdown on online speech. Perhaps most famously, Catalonian rapper Pablo Hasel was given a nine-month jail term in 2018 for tweets suggesting that the Spanish police tortured protestors and migrants, as well as posting several anti-monarchy tweets.
- READ ALSO: Spain to rethink free speech laws after rapper jailed for insulting Crown
- READ ALSO: ANALYSIS: “Spain’s freedom of speech repression is no joke”
Hasel's conviction, which itself caused a string of protests, was held up by many as the gag law's true underlying aim: to silence voices critical of the Spanish establishment and its monarchy, government, church, army and police forces.
Changes
Fast forward almost eight years later, and Pedro Sánchez's PSOE-led government coalition are trying to amend the gag law.
For many, it's long overdue; for others, it represents disrespect for the police and typifies Sánchez's dependence on separatist forces in Spanish politics.
- READ ALSO: Why Spain is giving a ‘get out of jail free card’ to politicians
- READ ALSO: Why Spain’s right is vehemently opposed to changes to sedition law
After trying to squeeze in the changes during the last plenary session of 2022 (following almost an entire year of little legislative progress) the government, along with other parties in favour of reforming the law, including Unidas Podemos, ERC, PNV, EH Bildu and Junts, are hoping to get the reform through as soon as possible, though there are some minor divergences (particularly from ERC and Bildu) on the detail that are slowing progress.
It is expected that the reforms will be revisited after Spain's Three Kings Day on January 6th.
READ ALSO: Why Spain loves the Three Kings more than Santa
Among the proposed changes, the recording or sharing of images of police officers will no longer constitute a serious infringement of the new law, except when the images pose a direct threat to the safety of the police officers.
As such, a serious infringement will now be considered only when "the use of images or personal or professional data of authorities or security forces agents generates a certain danger to family or personal safety or protected facilities or has put an operation at risk."
Under the 2015 law, simply taking a photo of a police officer could, legally speaking, land you with a fine.
Other proposed changes include stopping or limiting the use of rubber bullets by police during protests, something that has split even the pro-reform groups within parliament. Likely because of that, the draft text states rather vaguely that "the competent authorities must develop specific protocols, in accordance with international standards, on the use of force and the use of riot-resistant material, in order to always use the least harmful means for people and avoid those that cause irreparable injuries," according to Spanish newspaper Publico.
Other changes include no longer punishing those involved in spontaneous demonstrations without prior communication, and the reduction of some of the more severe fines outlined in the previous bill depending on the offender's income. With regards to lowering fines, a proposal put forward jointly by PSOE and its junior coalition partner, Unidas Podemos, suggests linking fine payment to Spain's Interprofessional Minimum Wage (SMI).
Offenders with a salary of up to 1.5 times the SMI could be given a 50 percent reduction, while those with a salary between 1.5 and 2.5 the SMI will be given 25 percent off.
In addition to this, most of the pro-reform parliamentary group support introducing a clause that would allow an offender request the suspension of a fine in exchange for "a repairing activity."
Until now, only underage offenders were able to do this.
Controversy
Unsurprisingly, these changes have proven less than popular with the Spanish police and political right, who have threatened to themselves protest like they did in November of 2022.
READ ALSO: Spanish police protest in Madrid against ‘gag law’ reform
Agustín Leal, spokesman for the Guardia Civil group Jucil, criticised the reforms and pointed to the minority parties propping up the government in Congress. "It is another concession to the Catalan coup partners and to the pro-ETA sympathisers in Bildu who are the main support of the government," Leal said. "They have already disarmed us in terms of personnel and means, and with this they are going to do it legally. The first to suffer will be the police and Guardia Civil who guarantee our security and social peace, and the biggest losers will be the Spanish people."
Similarly, the changes have been criticised by the PP. Party deputy Ana Vázquez said in the Spanish press: "They are reactivating it [after months of no progress] because they must be afraid, as the budgets are not yet in the Senate. If it is approved, it will be an outrage. It will leave Spaniards unprotected and leave a more insecure country, a country of criminals."
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In 2015, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative People's Party (PP) government passed a law known as the 'Citizen Security Law.'
Pedro Sánchez's PSOE-led coalition government is now trying to reform the law by changing the rules on recording and sharing images of police officers, the organising spontaneous protests, and the use of rubber bullets by police, among other things.
Though some kind of legislation like this (namely the regulation of protests and policing) has existed in Spain since as far back as the 1980s, the reforms made by the Rajoy government went a step further and bolstered police powers to crack down on protests and free speech, as well as introducing punishments for things like recording or photographing police officers, arranging protests without officially registering it beforehand, and even 'disrespecting' police officers.
Drawn up partly in reaction to Spain's famous 15M anti-austerity demonstrations, after the wave of protest action in the early 2010's many in the Spanish police felt they had been unprepared and without sufficient legal bandwidth to properly prosecute (though some would say repress) protesters. In response, Rajoy's government rectified these perceived shortcomings in law.
For some, the changes were necessary and served to rebalance a system that offered more protections to criminals than police officers.
For others, the changes were so reactionary, such a blatant overcorrection, that they were widely viewed as anti-free speech measures and quickly became known as the 'gag law' (ley mordaza) both in Spain and abroad. That's why the Sánchez government is now trying to reform it.
Gag Law
Under the gag law, anyone who organises or takes part in an “unauthorised protest” (that is, without registering it with the authorities beforehand) is liable to fines of between €30,000 and €600,000, especially so if the demonstration took place near certain locations, such as the Spanish parliament.
Similarly, disrupting public events like religious ceremonies, public speeches or events and even sports matches, could land you with a fine of between €600 and €300,000.
The law also made photographing and recording police officers illegal and punishable by fines. Incredibly, 'disrespecting' a police officer was also made punishable by hefty fines, as was not carrying your ID with you at all times.
Using social media to arrange protests is also punishable under the 2015 law, a legal attempt to cut protests off at the organisational level as social media had played a huge role in the organisation of the 15M protests.
The gag law has also been used a legal justification for a crackdown on online speech. Perhaps most famously, Catalonian rapper Pablo Hasel was given a nine-month jail term in 2018 for tweets suggesting that the Spanish police tortured protestors and migrants, as well as posting several anti-monarchy tweets.
- READ ALSO: Spain to rethink free speech laws after rapper jailed for insulting Crown
- READ ALSO: ANALYSIS: “Spain’s freedom of speech repression is no joke”
Hasel's conviction, which itself caused a string of protests, was held up by many as the gag law's true underlying aim: to silence voices critical of the Spanish establishment and its monarchy, government, church, army and police forces.
Changes
Fast forward almost eight years later, and Pedro Sánchez's PSOE-led government coalition are trying to amend the gag law.
For many, it's long overdue; for others, it represents disrespect for the police and typifies Sánchez's dependence on separatist forces in Spanish politics.
- READ ALSO: Why Spain is giving a ‘get out of jail free card’ to politicians
- READ ALSO: Why Spain’s right is vehemently opposed to changes to sedition law
After trying to squeeze in the changes during the last plenary session of 2022 (following almost an entire year of little legislative progress) the government, along with other parties in favour of reforming the law, including Unidas Podemos, ERC, PNV, EH Bildu and Junts, are hoping to get the reform through as soon as possible, though there are some minor divergences (particularly from ERC and Bildu) on the detail that are slowing progress.
It is expected that the reforms will be revisited after Spain's Three Kings Day on January 6th.
READ ALSO: Why Spain loves the Three Kings more than Santa
Among the proposed changes, the recording or sharing of images of police officers will no longer constitute a serious infringement of the new law, except when the images pose a direct threat to the safety of the police officers.
As such, a serious infringement will now be considered only when "the use of images or personal or professional data of authorities or security forces agents generates a certain danger to family or personal safety or protected facilities or has put an operation at risk."
Under the 2015 law, simply taking a photo of a police officer could, legally speaking, land you with a fine.
Other proposed changes include stopping or limiting the use of rubber bullets by police during protests, something that has split even the pro-reform groups within parliament. Likely because of that, the draft text states rather vaguely that "the competent authorities must develop specific protocols, in accordance with international standards, on the use of force and the use of riot-resistant material, in order to always use the least harmful means for people and avoid those that cause irreparable injuries," according to Spanish newspaper Publico.
Other changes include no longer punishing those involved in spontaneous demonstrations without prior communication, and the reduction of some of the more severe fines outlined in the previous bill depending on the offender's income. With regards to lowering fines, a proposal put forward jointly by PSOE and its junior coalition partner, Unidas Podemos, suggests linking fine payment to Spain's Interprofessional Minimum Wage (SMI).
Offenders with a salary of up to 1.5 times the SMI could be given a 50 percent reduction, while those with a salary between 1.5 and 2.5 the SMI will be given 25 percent off.
In addition to this, most of the pro-reform parliamentary group support introducing a clause that would allow an offender request the suspension of a fine in exchange for "a repairing activity."
Until now, only underage offenders were able to do this.
Controversy
Unsurprisingly, these changes have proven less than popular with the Spanish police and political right, who have threatened to themselves protest like they did in November of 2022.
READ ALSO: Spanish police protest in Madrid against ‘gag law’ reform
Agustín Leal, spokesman for the Guardia Civil group Jucil, criticised the reforms and pointed to the minority parties propping up the government in Congress. "It is another concession to the Catalan coup partners and to the pro-ETA sympathisers in Bildu who are the main support of the government," Leal said. "They have already disarmed us in terms of personnel and means, and with this they are going to do it legally. The first to suffer will be the police and Guardia Civil who guarantee our security and social peace, and the biggest losers will be the Spanish people."
Similarly, the changes have been criticised by the PP. Party deputy Ana Vázquez said in the Spanish press: "They are reactivating it [after months of no progress] because they must be afraid, as the budgets are not yet in the Senate. If it is approved, it will be an outrage. It will leave Spaniards unprotected and leave a more insecure country, a country of criminals."
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