Amnesty denied to protesters who tried to “boycott” the 2023 Princess of Girona Awards

A court in Santa Coloma de Farners (Girona) amnesty denied to four people under investigation for crimes against road safety during the demonstration against the visit of King Felipe VI during the Princess of Girona Awards, in July 2023. A demonstration of around 400 people against the presence of the Royal House in Catalonia, with which they intended, the order specifies, “to boycott the institutional event”, organized in Caldes de Malavella. Even though the police cordon prevented the majority of those gathered from accessing the complex, some “circumvented” it and managed to “approach” the venue which hosted the event.

Among them, the four respondents who approached the “protected zone”, for which They crossed the A-2 highway. The judge underlines that they thus generated an “obvious risk for traffic”, since certain cars were forced to brake and even change lanes to avoid “collisions”. When the four demonstrators did it again, several police officers arrested them and then managed to intercept and identify them. During their statements, each emphasized having participated in “anti-monarchy protests» and that they did so because “they have the right to express their ideas”.

The educated people asked for criminal oblivion but the judge emphasizes in his resolution – as the prosecution maintains – that the protest against “the presence of the kings of Spain” in the community has no place in the cases provided for by the amnesty law. “At the same time, they allegedly committed an offense against road safety by crossing the highway. Neither the reason for the demonstration, nor the alleged criminal act, are linked or any link with the Catalan independence movement“, we read in the order which refuses free dismissal.