Two people have been arrested and more than a dozen have been injured this Wednesday in A Coruña as a result of the disturbances and the charges by the National Police recorded during a protest against the presence of the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, at an event held in the Praza de María Pita.
About 4,000 people have gathered since 11:00 in this central square of A Coruña, where at 12:00 the president of Vox was giving a speech to the media.
Separated by a strong police device, with more than a dozen vans of the National Police forming a cordon, the protesters — summoned by student organizations, Galiza Nova, and the Tenants' Union, among others — positioned themselves near the Town Hall, while the Vox event took place at the entrance to the square by Puerta Real.
The majority of the attendees at the protest were young people chanting slogans like "A Coruña is antifascist" or "You are nothing without the police." The situation remained incident-free until the conclusion of the Vox event, at which point a clash occurred between protesters and agents after eggs and objects like lighters were thrown at the police cordon.
From there, the tension increased and led to a new police charge, in which at least one of the young people was injured, with visible injuries to the face.
The altercations were repeated and moved towards the corner of the square at the exit towards San Agustín. At that point, some protesters used chairs from the terrace of a hospitality venue against the agents, as well as stones and various urban furniture. One of those stones surpassed the police cordon and hit the leg of a journalist, who had to go to a health center to be treated.
The incidents continued and the police pushed the protesters towards the church of San Jorge, where new charges were recorded in the streets near the Pazo de María Pita until shortly before 15:00.
Sources from the Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC) consulted by Europa Press have confirmed that three people were treated at the center, none of them with serious injuries.
"Against their hate and their racism"
At the beginning of the mobilization, in statements to the media, the secretary general of Galiza Nova, Artai Gabiás, stated that "the hate speeches that" Santiago Abascal's formation "launches" are "not well received in Galicia."
"His hatred and his racism are a strategy to divide the popular classes. The problems of Galician youth are not the migrants, nor feminism, nor the LGTB collective, it is the failure of the capitalist system," Gabiás has emphasized.
In that line, the leader of Galiza Nova has remarked that "in the face of provocation" and the "presence of ultra-Spanishism in Galicia," the Galician people "must self-organize" and "shout loud and clear that Galicia is antifascist and that their hatred has no place."
"We are not exercising violence, we are exercising our right to assemble. We are surrounded by the police and we only say that hate speech in Galicia has no place," Gabiás has asserted, who in a press release after the disturbances has denounced the "excessive repression" in the protest.
Abascal qualifies the protest as "coercion"
During the event, when asked about the mobilization, Santiago Abascal has assured that "there is no coercion" that can overcome them and has insisted that the presence of the demonstrators did not generate "any fear" for them.
Likewise, he has defended that with a change of Government "it will not be possible to harass citizens and go to the squares to prevent people from expressing themselves freely."
"Many neighbors wanted to come to listen freely and found the coercion of the accomplices and partners of Pedro Sánchez. The violent coercion from which only the riot police protect us," Abascal has stated, who has described this situation as "the same coercion" that, according to him, is experienced at Puerta del Sol "against journalists and informers."
In this sense, he has pointed out that, if it were the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who organized an event in Praza de María Pita, "there would be no one in this square and there would have been security cordons," adding that the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, "would have guaranteed that he could speak freely."
"When Pedro Sánchez walks through Spain, which he does with difficulty after so much betrayal, there are many citizens who spontaneously approach him. But this is an organized act and an act permitted by the Government delegation," Abascal has concluded.
The City Council of A Coruña condemns "violent acts"
After the disturbances, the City Council of A Coruña has issued a statement in which it expresses its "strongest condemnation" of "the violent acts" that this Wednesday have caused damage and injuries in María Pita.
"Any claim loses its legitimacy when it resorts to violence, attacks innocent people, and damages private property," stated the mayor, Inés Rey, who estimated that nearly 5,000 people gathered in the square.
The mayor has expressed her support for the injured and those who suffered damage to their businesses, and has highlighted "the right and civic behavior of those who attended the call to peacefully protest against fascism."
They demand the resignation of the Government delegate
Following the events, the police union Jupol has called for the resignation of the Government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, believing that he has put "the deployed agents at serious risk."
For this union, it has been "irresponsibility" to allow the demonstration to coincide with the political event in the same square, and it has demanded accountability "for the lack of foresight, planning, and clear orders for the operation."
"The physical integrity of the police cannot be endangered by a poorly planned political decision. The safety of the agents and citizens must be above any political interest. Those who make decisions that compromise that safety must assume their responsibilities," the organization has pointed out.
Jupol has also announced that it will request a review of the operational instructions to check whether the police commanders "had sufficient information and clear orders" to deal with the disturbances.
For its part, the Spanish Police Confederation has denounced the throwing of objects "that could cause serious injuries" to the agents and has accused the Ministry of the Interior of allowing the demonstrators to "take over the streets."
"It is irrational to allow these radical movements to counter-demonstrate authorized events," it criticized before also demanding the resignation of Pedro Blanco: "He cannot remain in his position for another minute."
New gatherings in front of the Subdelegation
For 7:30 PM this Wednesday, various organizations have called for a new mobilization in front of the Government Subdelegation in A Coruña "against police repression and fascism."
Among the organizers are the CIG, the BNG, the Coordinadora da Mocidade Socialista (CMS), Riazor Blues, the Housing Union, and other entities, which have denounced that the police "responded with their violence" and left "dozens injured." For this reason, they call to gather to show solidarity with those who "have suffered police repression" and to demand accountability.