Country Catalunya, Spain
Year 2022
Affected group/minority Catalan-speakers
Perpetrator National Police
Type of case Hate act
Type of act Offence / Detention of a person
Media: Physical interaction
Reactions: A protest was held; Plataforma per la Llengua turned to the Court
Brief description:
The victim (a middle-aged Catalan-speaking Muslim woman) went to the police station in Terrassa to renew her passport and ID and asked for the documentation her parents needed to visit her. There she was ill-treated for speaking in Catalan, coerced by the police officer and forced to speak Spanish:
"You have to speak in Spanish, because we are in Spain", stated the official.
When the lady was leaving, the police officers also detained her because she “offended them” and held her against her will because they said she “refused to identify herself.” This was obviously not the case since the woman had visited the police office to renew her documents. However, she was also accused of a “lack of respect for authority” because she exercised her right to speak in the minority language.
Considering that the agents would have committed a crime of coercion, forgery in a public document, illegal detention, and a crime against the moral integrity of the citizen, Plataforma per la Léngua asked the Terrassa Magistrate's Court to summon the two agents who have already been identified and to require the police station to identify all the agents and the security camera recordings.
More information on the case can be obtained from:
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