The Manteroekin Bat Platform (“Platform with the Manteros”), made up of the Manteros Platform of Bizkaia, Mboolo, the SOS Racismo Bizkaia association, Ongi Etorri Errefuxiatuak and dozens of socio-union groups and organizations, denounced this Tuesday with a demonstration in Bilbao the “increasing police violence” against the mantero group of Bilbao and the “lack of response” of the City Council in the face of this type of situation. “We understand that during the arrests, the goods must be seized, but what is absolutely not justified are the violent methods, especially on the part of the municipal police of Bilbao, nor the fact that during the seizures they remove their personal effects and money,” the members of Manteroekin Bat explained to this newspaper.
According to critics, these actions have been taking place in the city for a long time and therefore consider it to be a “very particular situation that occurs in Bilbao.” “We do not see this type of specific attacks elsewhere,” they acknowledge. This newspaper has tried to collect testimonies from people affected by the police actions, but the network claims that they prefer not to focus on any specific case, arguing the “fear” they have of being “people in an irregular situation.” For this reason, the associations have held several meetings with representatives of the Equality, Coexistence, Cooperation and Immigration Space and the Security Space of the Bilbao City Council, to whom they have sent a proposal of five demands in front of Aste Nagusia.
The first of these is “political responsibility and control of abuses”: “We demand that the City Council urgently put an end to the use of physical and verbal violence in police interventions against State persons, and that surveillance, control and sanctions be carried out to agents who abuse their power. The second is “non-retention of documents”. “The retention of documents and other personal effects violates fundamental rights and must stop immediately.” The third is “review of seizures”. “We demand a thorough review of the practice of seizing goods and other personal property, considering it dubious and not very transparent.” The fourth demand is the creation of “secure sales spaces”. “We propose, as has been done in other territories of the Basque Country and communities, the creation of approved spaces for safe sales within Aste Nagusia and other popular festivals in the neighbourhoods of Bilbao” and, finally, “access to municipal facilities: “We demand access for Mantero to municipal sports centres to wash and rest in decent conditions”, they demanded during the demonstration behind a banner that read “Manteroen aurkako jazarpenik ez. Surviving is not a crime.”
However, the Manteroekin Bat network regrets that “the response was negative to each of the requests.” “Despite the words of good intentions during the meetings, there has been no progress or gesture in favor of what was requested. During Aste Nagusia, people who live from street vending suffered a week of constant tension, persecution and increased police presence with a stigmatizing and violently racist attitude. We witnessed arrests, racist identifications, seizures of goods, retention of documents, money and personal property, all accompanied by excessive use of force,” they say.
“Police harassment” in Aste Nagusia
Throughout the Bilbao festivities, Bilboko Konpartsak also denounced the “police harassment” of the manteros, especially on August 25, a day that “culminated in the violent arrest of a mantero and the subsequent show of force and the dangerous and irresponsible escalation of violence.” tension” on the Arenal Bridge. When this happened, hundreds of people came out to defend the street vendors and stood in front of the municipal police and Ertzaintza agents, which Bilboko Konpartsak considers “civic courage.”
In a rally held at the Arenal in Bilbao, Bilboko Konpartsak indicated that the manteros “are also citizens and they work, so they must receive the same rights and respect as the rest of citizens and workers.” In this sense, they criticized the local police for using “violent language, identifying the manteros, confiscating the sales material that constitutes their livelihood and stealing their personal belongings.” “Unfortunately, this happens all year round, also in Aste Nagusia. In Bilboko Konpartsak, we find the aggressive and violent attitude of the agents unacceptable, and we want to emphasize that all this responds to a political decision,” they noted.
This Monday in its Aste Nagusia report, EH Bildu also condemned the police actions against the manteroswhich he considers “totally disproportionate”, and has requested an emergency meeting with the mayor of the city, Juan Mari Aburto. In this document, they intend to provide a “political and social, not police” response to the situation of the street vendors group. In a press conference, María del Río, spokesperson for the municipal group EH Bildu de Bilbao, and councilor Garazi Perea, stressed that the actions of the police during the holidays have been “totally contrary to the community police model” and warned that “they go against the logic of the Security Pact.
