The opposition groups in the Basque Parliament have agreed in censuring the acts of vandalism that occurred last Monday in Bilbao. EH Bildu has denounced that these altercations "favor the reactionary bloc," while the PP has suggested that there could have been a political "intentionality" in the decision that would have caused the Ertzaintza to be "absent" at "the most critical moment" of the disturbances.
The Plenary of the Basque Chamber is holding this Wednesday, at the request of the PNV and the PSE-EE, a monographic debate on security. Although the session was requested in September by the groups that support the Government, it comes just two days after the incidents recorded in the Biscayan capital, which left considerable damage to urban furniture and ended with the arrest of around twenty people.
During the debate, the EH Bildu parliamentarian Eraitz Saez de Egilaz has expressed the "most absolute rejection" of her group toward "the behaviors of a violent and antisocial nature that occurred after the end of the mobilizations called in response to the presence of the far-right agitator Vito Quiles" in Bilbao.
"EH Bildu does not share these actions that harm coexistence and directly affect the well-being of neighbors and residents, shopkeepers and citizens in general," she has indicated, then conveying her solidarity to those who have been affected by the disturbances.
Saez de Egilaz has stressed that EH Bildu is "antifascist" and that, in that condition, they feel "proud and proud of the massive and democratic response that this people gave to the provocateur Vito Quiles". However, she has pointed out that "the acts of vandalism that occurred once the mobilizations ended only favor the interests of the reactionary bloc".
Debate on security and accusations of alarmism
After alluding to the events in Bilbao, the EH Bildu representative broadened the focus to the general debate on security. She defended the need to address this issue "without denying the problems that exist, but avoiding alarmism for political purposes". In her view, insecurity must be addressed with a "polyhedral" approach, addressing the inequalities and social gaps that, in many cases, are at the origin of different forms of delinquency.
In this context, he has warned that those who "want to portray a situation of chaos and defend the command-and-control model" promote discourses that "favor authoritarian tendencies".
On the other hand, the president of the Basque PP and parliamentarian, Javier de Andrés, has accused the PNV and the PSE of trying to "convey to society that there are no security problems" and of attributing the perception of insecurity "to the fault of the right or the far right, which are now the same thing".
PP criticism of the management of the Ertzaintza
Regarding the protests against Vito Quiles, De Andrés has asked "who decides who is a troublemaker whom you have to shut up". "That is called censor," he has concluded.
The PP leader has denounced that the Ertzaintza "was absent for an hour at the most critical moment of the disturbances", something he has attributed to the "bad management" of the Basque Government. He has questioned whether the absence of the autonomous police force responded to the "inefficiency" of the heads of the Security Department, without ruling out that there could be political "intentionality".
In a broader analysis, he has maintained that in Euskadi "security is weakening and the margin of advantage we had with the rest of Spain is being reduced". "This is the reality of your security management," he has reproached the lehendakari, also attributing to the immigrant collective, "particularly the Maghrebi one", a "very high influence" in the increase in crime.
Unanimous condemnation of the disturbances and debate on immigration
The Sumar parliamentarian, Jon Hernández, has condemned the vandals acts perpetrated by "a minority" in the afternoon in Bilbao, but has recalled that that same day, in the morning, "thousands of young people, of students, demonstrated peacefully and exemplarily against fascism, in the face of the announced presence of an agent", underscoring the importance of "differentiating" between both behaviors.
The Vox parliamentarian, Amaia Martínez, has expressed her "forceful" condemnation of what happened in Bilbao, which she has described as "street terrorism". In her view, the disturbances in the Biscayan capital "put public safety at risk and evidenced the hatred that remains installed in the country". Likewise, she has insisted on linking immigration with the "growth of insecurity".