In a system at war with life, the rebellion will be peaceful.
Extinction Rebellion demonstrators in peaceful protest experienced a disproportionate response from the authorities.
Serious legal shortcomings are evidenced in police action during peaceful protests.
The rebellion for life will continue despite repression.
On Monday 7th October, Extinction Rebellion carried out a non-violent civil resistance action. It involved cutting off traffic through a peaceful sit-in.
The objective was to demonstrate the magnitude of the climate crisis and demand that the government take the necessary measures to stop the civilization collapse. The necessary precautions were taken in compliance with art. 21 inc. 2 of the Spanish Constitution: these demonstrations can only be prohibited when they are carried out ” endangering people or property”. A communiqué had also been sent to several important media outlets.
Despite all precautions, the police evicted the 300 participants through procedures that exceeded the practices in accordance with the rule of law. The various irregularities that took place there must be made public:
The anti-riot police forces did not carry the identification number at the place stipulated by the current regulations.
The police unjustifiably evicted the press covering the events, in violation of the right to information, with the obvious intention of not leaving graphic records of police action.
Although, to a lesser extent, there were police officers who treated those who were evicted with humanity and due respect for the law, the most common was the application of pain points in various parts of the body, pulling hair and ears, twisting arms and legs as well as pressing on the eyes, including verbal attacks on people who maintained a strictly peaceful behavior.
The disproportionate application of these procedures caused fainting, dizziness, and even dislocations of the joints that had to be attended later by the medical services.
This implies a violation of civil and constitutional rights, such as those established in articles 16.1 and 20.1 of the Spanish Constitution.
These police practices, added to the restrictions of rights implied by the “Ley Mordaza” and sentences such as the recent “Procés” that equate peaceful citizen protest with violence in criminal terms –with the drastic aggravation of the penalties imputed to those who exercise the right that this implies–, place our non-violent rebellion in a position of greater risk and sacrifice than that of our fellow rebels in other countries around us.
We live in a toxic system with structural violence towards life and people, which denies itself the possibility of hearing voices of alertness and change. However, Extinction Rebellion’s determination to defend life on the planet remains intact, as the sacrifice implicit in this cause is infinitely less than that which would result from not addressing climate collapse and the likely extinction of the human species.
The International Rebellion for life will continue to expand unstoppably as long as the climate emergency remains unattended. Political elites must be aware that civil rights are like ministries, if we don’t use them, they become useless.
XR Barcelona
October 2019