The Spanish senate has voted to push forward with controversial changes to the country’s public security laws, cracking down on Spaniards’ rights of freedom of assembly and expression despite opposition from activists and human rights groups.



Recent years have seen millions of Spaniards take to the streets to voice their dissatisfaction with the rightwing People’s party government, protesting against crippling austerity measures and attempts to roll back the country’s abortion laws. Now the government has hit back with legislation, dubbed the “gag law” by critics, that seeks to limit protests by laying out strict guidelines on when and where they can take place and penalising offenders with steep fines.

The legislation includes fines of up to 600 euros for failing to notify authorities about demonstrations in public areas, even in the case of peaceful protests. Once approved, marches that veer from the approved itineraries could face fines of up to 600 euros.

The fines climb to 30,000 euros for protests that result in “serious disturbances of public safety” near parliament and Spain’s regional government buildings. Unauthorised protests that take place near key infrastructure, such as transportation hubs, nuclear power plants, refineries and telecommunications installations could result in fines of up to 600,000 euros.

The legislation will now head to Spain’s Congress of Deputies, where the legislation is expected to be ratified by the end of the month.

Greenpeace, whose members were recently hauled into court over a 2011 demonstration held at a nuclear power plant in Valencia, has spoken out against the legislation. “It’s our right to express our opinion, to march to parliament, to go to nuclear power plants to say that they are dangerous or unfurl a banner on a building or street,” said Miguel Ángel Soto of the group.

Recent months have seen thousands of Spaniards pour into the streets of more than 25 cities and towns to voice their discontent with the bill, tying bright blue cloths over their mouths to demonstrate the chilling effect the law would have on free speech. A December poll by Metroscopia for Avaaz.org found that 82% of the 600 people queried thought the legislation should be modified or abandoned.

The legislation is both disproportionate and unnecessary, said Virginia Pérez Alonso of the Platform in Defence of Freedom of Information. “This is one of the worst attacks on liberties that we’ve seen in Spain since the times of Franco.”

In a country where home evictions took place at a rate of 95 families a day in 2014, the proposed laws take aim at groups such as the Mortgage Victims’ Platform whose spontaneous rallies in front of homes seek to physically block police from carrying out court-ordered evictions.

The legislation stipulates fines of up to 30,000 euros for those who prevent government employees from enforcing administrative or judicial orders.

“The law will criminalise and penalise the actions of the movements for the right to housing “ said Carlos Macias of the Mortgage Victims’ Platform. “These are actions that are simply being carried out as a form of self-protection,” he added.

As the legislation also includes fines of up to 30,000 euros for disseminating images of police officers “that would endanger their safety or that of protected areas or put the success of an operation at risk”, the proposed laws have evoked fears of self-censorship among some journalists, said Susana Sanz Guardo.

An activist who often live-streams protests, focusing on interactions between police and protesters, she said the legislation would result in a “total block of the type of journalism I do”. The ultimate result, she said would be diminished accountability of law enforcement officers for their actions during protests.



As the Spanish government faces mounting criticism over the actions of its authorities at the borders of its enclaves in Melilla and Ceuta, the legislation also seeks to formalise the practice of summary returns to Morocco of migrants who are caught attempting to jump the triple razor wire fence at the borders.

The legislation has been widely criticised outside Spain, including by a panel of five UN human rights experts who, in a statement, noted that the reforms “unnecessarily and disproportionately restrict basic freedoms”.

The Spanish government has repeatedly defended the bill, insisting it will improve public security by targeting the protesters who are prone to violence. “It’s a law for the 21st century,” Spain’s interior minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz, said recently. “It provides better guarantees for people’s security and more judicial security for people’s rights.

The legislation is expected to be finalised later this month. As the PP holds a majority in both houses of parliament in Spain, the legislation is certain to pass. The bulk of measures included in the legislation are expected to come into effect in July.