EL MUNDO and El Español are considering taking legal action against the National Police for illegal detentions and false fees, after two of their journalists were detained while running to cover up protests in Ferraz. After a series of attacks on Marqués de Urquijo Street, journalists from EL MUNDO and El Español went with two other colleagues to cover up the disturbances after firecrackers and police charges were thrown. Once the protests moved to nearby Juan Álvarez de Mendizábal Street, the informants found themselves between two police charges that positioned themselves behind other people. They threw trash cans on the ground, seeking to erect barricades. The two detained journalists were filming at the time how the radicals burned several boxes in front of them. They also witnessed how some neighbors threw water at them from their windows, and the insults lavished on them by the ultras from the street.
A scene around 11:00 p. m. which was witnessed by 3 journalists from El Español and one from EL MUNDO and which was the last time that the journalist from this newspaper was able to record since, moments later, accompanied by one of his colleagues from El Español, he took refuge in a gate . invited through one of the citizens of the property. At the same time, he informed his colleagues, through the EL MUNDO editorial staff’s Whatsapp, that he had taken refuge there so as not to be affected by the accusations. The journalists observed, in the company of the guy who had allowed them to pass through the door, with a citizen with Asian features and a protester also detained, how the accusations and arrests took place in the middle of the street. A few minutes later, an individual, with his face covered by panties, began to bang loudly on the door and demand that the citizens open it. The resident who had invited the hounds to take shelter then asked the outdoor user who he was and, after postponing for a moment, claimed to be a police officer without showing any identification. The resident of the building chose not to open it and went to his house.
The journalists waited on the landing next to the elevators for the disturbances to stop. However, while the journalists waited, the guy who knocked on the door, accompanied by others, entered the usual spaces of the construction identifying themselves as police officers. An access to which the sleuths responded with their press cards and identity cards in hand, informing the agents that they were reporters and that they were practicing their profession. However, the police officers, specifically the one they had seen knocking on the outside door, violently and impassively shouted at them that they were under arrest and that “they already knew what they had done. ” With their papers and identity documents, the bloodhounds explained to the agents (unsuccessfully) that in their backpack they carried personal protection devices, which they also called bloodhounds, and stickers accrediting the investiture consultation in the Congress of Deputies. After being handcuffed, they were taken to the police station on Leganitos Street and later to the Moratalaz Information Brigade. There they were informed that they were being investigated for the crime of disturbing public order for allegedly “throwing what appeared to be a bottle. ” A fact that is recorded according to what was observed by the officials who carried out his arrest. After spending the afternoon at the Moratalaz police station, the two journalists were released at 6 in the morning.
EL MUNDO and El Español denounce and detain their journalists as an attack and a widespread violation of press freedom.