Less Tourism, More Life and Solidarity Alert accuse the Police of seeking "scapegoats" for the riots of 26-J

PalmaMenys Turisme, Més Vida and Alerta Solidària consider that the National Police are looking for "scapegoats" among the protesters of the last demonstration on July 26 in Palma to justify the charges and police violence that left twenty-five people injured. The entities have reacted in this way to the report prepared by the Superior Headquarters of the National Police in the Balearic Islands, which accuses seven participants in the protest against tourist overcrowding of the alleged crimes of public disorder and damage.

The report, commissioned by the Spanish government delegate in the Balearic Islands, Alfonso Rodríguez, the day after the demonstration and now sent to the court investigating the events, defends the agents' actions during the incidents. The police investigation is based, among other elements, on a video recorded by a drone where the throwing of a can towards the police can be seen. The images were published by IB3 and, subsequently, launched on the police union's networks with a publication where they considered that police charges were used as a "smokescreen" for political interests and attacked the institutional representative of the Spanish government in the Balearic Islands. "What is really important is that it is the government delegate, the highest representative of the State Security Forces and Corps, who launches these serious accusations against the police instead of supporting their work," they pointed out.

However, it will now be up to the court to assess this evidence and decide whether to summon the seven identified individuals to testify.

For Menys Turisme, Més Vida and Alerta Solidària, however, the report is part of a "criminalization strategy" against the participants in a mobilization that, as they recall, brought together more than 70,000 people in the streets of Palma to demand a reduction in tourism. "The investigation that seeks to justify the violent charges appears to have already found scapegoats," point out the two entities.

The version of the National Police clashes with that of the protesters

The Police place the origin of the disturbances at the end of the demonstration, at Les Voltes. According to the police report, the officers informed the organization that the venue did not have the capacity to accommodate all the people participating and proposed that the reading of the manifesto be done outside. Given the insistence on accessing it, three police checkpoints were established to regulate entry.

The police version maintains that the situation became tense after it was announced over the protest's loudspeakers that the Police were preventing access to the venue. According to the document, subsequently, there were shoves against the officers, who were reportedly surrounded on the footbridge connecting Antoni Maura Avenue with Les Voltes.

It is at this moment that the Police place the actions of the group of demonstrators they are now accusing. The report indicates that the compiled images allow for the identification of a small group of people, some with their faces covered, who allegedly threw bottles, cans, and stones at the officers. It also attributes kicks, shoves, and the use of a flag pole to them, as well as alleged confrontations with some tourists.

The entities reject this account. They assure that the disturbances occurred due to the presence of hundreds of riot police blocking access and preventing the passage of demonstrators through various areas of the upper Murada, and that the demonstrators were attacked when they were already leaving the area. In fact, the officers pursued several people when they had already left the scene and were walking along the Born promenade, at which point the officers continued to charge, and one of the injured persons was, precisely, the Palma musician Daniel Higienico, as recorded by the testimony of photojournalist Joan Mateu Parra.

They also report that, despite the organization's mediation with the Police, the officers acted "in a totally unjustified manner" and interrupted the reading of the second manifesto. "The videos that filled social networks in the days following the demonstration clearly show the violent intervention of the officers," maintain Menys Turisme, Més Vida and Alerta Solidària, who focus especially on limiting access to the Voltes and on the subsequent formation of the police cordon.