The National Police unions have reacted to criticism of the intervention of the 'riot' agents in the eviction of Maricarmen, the 87-year-old woman with a disability who lived as a renter in the Retiro neighborhood in Madrid, recalling that they were limited to complying with a court order and, at the same time, demanding that in the investigation that is opened, all the orders received be analyzed and not just "isolated images."
"We perfectly understand the harshness of the images and that any possible irregularity be investigated. But we also ask that the police officers who were there be heard, that the complete recordings be analyzed and that the orders received and the real circumstances of a complex device be taken into account," they have stated from the SUP, in reference to the investigation announced by the Government Delegation in Madrid.
"We cannot require agents to comply with a judicial resolution and then judge their actions exclusively by a few seconds of video, without knowing everything that happened before," they continued.
The SUP has demanded that, in any case, a "rigorous investigation" be carried out following complaints from the Tenants' Union and other activists, politicians or citizens who claim that they were "gassed" with police spray or that they received blows that left "marks" on their backs or heads when they tried to prevent the eviction.
"Police officers also have the right to the presumption of innocence and all legal guarantees," the SUP has pointed out after remembering that neither Maricarmen nor any other person is evicted because the National Police decides directly.
"The Police come to guarantee compliance with a judicial resolution in a particularly complicated situation, with enormous media pressure and people trying to prevent the intervention," continued the SUP, which has made its legal services available to the agents who carried out the eviction.
The Police union representatives have recalled that it is common for the devices of the Police Intervention Unit (UIP) to be questioned, as has happened in Ceuta after the massive entry of thousands of migrants from Morocco or as has happened in the past in devices to prevent disturbances around the Congress of Deputies or in the national headquarters of political parties.
Faced with criticism of "police brutality" from activists, citizens and politicians who tried to prevent the UIP from taking action, sources from the Ministry of the Interior limited themselves to expressing on Wednesday, when Maricarmen's eviction was taking place, that the National Police has internal protocols in case it detects any irregular action.
The Government cannot "wash its hands"
For Jupol, what the Government has tried is to "wash its hands." "It is grotesque that the Government delegate in Madrid attempts to distance himself from the institutional responsibility for the operation and subsequently publicly question the actions of the police officers," he indicated.
"The Government Delegation initially stated that the National Police was acting under the mandate of the judicial commission in charge of the launch. Two days later, the Government delegate himself, Francisco Martín, announced an investigation into possible police excesses after acknowledging that there are images of the operation that he did not like," Jupol continued.
In this sense, this union has criticized the "hypocrisy" of the Government representative in Madrid. "When it is necessary to guarantee that a judicial resolution is complied with, the police are necessary; when controversial and biased images appear, some political leaders seem to want to ignore the device and point the finger at the agents," he explained.
As is usual in this type of controversy, the unions have recalled the regulations that establish the Government delegate as the political authority supervising the device, under the functional dependence of the Ministry of the Interior.
