Sumar and ERC have demanded urgent explanations this Monday from the Ministry of the Interior and the Government Delegation in the Valencian Community for the police action on Sunday in front of the Ministry of Education, described as "brutal and disproportionate," after images were released showing a National Police officer pushing a protesting teacher to the ground.
The Compromís deputy integrated into the Sumar group, Alberto Ibáñez, has maintained that the intervention of the National Police and the role of the government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, "overshadow a peaceful demonstration" which, he recalled, has been ongoing for 22 days, with teachers demanding "not only their better working and salary conditions, but the best public school for all Valencians."
Ibáñez has submitted a series of questions to Congress in order to clarify how "responsibilities will be settled" for what he described as "police brutality," after an officer was seen "treacherously hitting from behind a retired teacher who was only demanding better conditions in the classrooms, better working conditions for her colleagues, and that our daughters be better cared for."
In that parliamentary initiative, obtained by Europa Press, he requests that the Government detail what formal communications the Government delegate or the Valencia sub-delegate held between 9:00 PM and 1:30 AM to correct the "police disproportionality," whether the national police officer who injured a retired teacher that same afternoon continued to be present during subsequent charges, and how many National Police officers were part of the security detail on May 31st on Pío XII Avenue in Valencia at 8:00 PM, as well as their identifications.
Criticism from Sumar regarding the agent's actions and the UFP
On the other hand, Enrique Santiago, deputy spokesperson for Sumar in Congress, shared a message on social media this Monday stating that this specific police intervention "is not congruent, nor opportune, nor proportional." "The agent's brutal action was not adequate, he did not dialogue and used disproportionate force, harming a retiree," he pointed out.
Santiago also stressed that the National Police needs "democratic unions committed to citizenship and professionalism." With these words, he responded to a message on 'X' from the Federal Union of Police (UFP), which justified the agent's actions by alleging that the aim was to prevent protesters from blocking the streets and "to avoid that initial moment of invasion of public space."
"We must act quickly, with the same force but with decisiveness," argued the police union, which was responding to a previous tweet from the government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, who had described what happened as "unacceptable" and pledged an "exhaustive" investigation to determine all responsibilities.
ERC denounces "different yardsticks" and demands accountability
ERC, for its part, has submitted another set of questions to the Congress's Table addressed to the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to demand explanations for the same action against a protester "without her offering or being able to offer resistance."
Its spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián, has warned that the events are of particular gravity because they "affect the exercise of a fundamental right such as the right to assembly and demonstration" and because they "occur in a context of social and union protest," in addition to denouncing the existence of "different yardsticks" in the treatment of protesters according to their political affiliation.
The republican deputy wants to know what information the government has about this police intervention, what measures it plans to take, whether the agent appearing in the images has already been identified, or if an informational file has been opened. Likewise, ERC requests to know the specific objective of the operation deployed before the Ministry of Education, within the framework of the protests by Valencian teachers after three weeks of indefinite strike and rallies in defense of public education.