The Human Rights Commission of the Bar Association requests a judicial investigation into the police charges

PalmaThe Human Rights Commission of the Balearic Islands Bar Association has condemned the police charges following Sunday's demonstration in Palma under the slogan 'Mallorca, at the limit' and has called for an independent and effective judicial investigation into the injuries caused to about twenty people and those responsible for ordering and carrying out these assaults.

This is how they indicated in a statement in which they condemn the "unnecessary, arbitrary and disproportionate use of force" and point out that an "unjustified" use of dissuasive and dangerous elements was carried out against defenseless demonstrators and journalists, and with an "illegitimate use of force".

"We denounce the violation of fundamental rights", they remarked, explaining that police charges and acts of violent dispersal directly violate the right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and physical integrity.

According to their defense, in a democratic society, the right to assembly and demonstration is essential for the construction of political pluralism. Thus, they recall that the Spanish Constitution enshrines it in its article 21 and attributes to the security forces and bodies the mission of protecting the free exercise of rights and freedoms. They also add that Organic Law 9/1983, of July 15, regulating the right of assembly, reproduces this guarantor context, which must be interpreted in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights and the jurisprudence of the Court created by the aforementioned convention.

"States must not limit themselves to non-interference, but have a positive obligation to take reasonable and appropriate measures to ensure that peaceful assemblies take place without incident", they say. In their opinion, the peaceful nature of the demonstration must be presumed, which is why the burden of proof of violent interventions by participants "falls on the authorities, who must present credible evidence regarding this matter". Therefore, they point out, "objectively verifiable factual evidence" is required.

In any case, they point out that the actual violence of a few participants does not make a gathering non-peaceful, as each demonstrator exercises their right to freedom of peaceful assembly individually. Therefore, the right must be respected, protected, and facilitated. To reach the threshold of violence or non-peaceful act in the context of assemblies, "the behavior must equate to the use of physical force against other persons that may result in injury or death, or that causes serious damage to property".

In the case of last Sunday's demonstration, they argue that they are not aware that the production of such acts by some participants has been proven, "but we have seen indiscriminate police charges against people in a non-violent attitude and baton assaults on citizens in a peaceful attitude, standing with their arms raised as a sign of peace, or who were simply taking photographs or videos, including a photojournalist who was doing their job, resulting in about twenty people injured, according to current data".