A satirical workshop against the police during the Granollers festival (Barcelona) ended in the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office. The Public Ministry is investigating this activity following a complaint filed by several police unions.
As announced by Cadena Ser and confirmed by elDiario.es, the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office has opened a pre-procedural procedure for the protection of minors. In her ruling, the prosecutor considers that the festival workshop is “an activity that presents signs of potential criminality in the criminal field.”
Given the “possible risk” in which the workshop, according to the prosecutor, could have placed the minors, the Public Ministry asks the Mossos d’Esquadra and the General Directorate of Childhood of the Generalitat to verify whether the activity “was involved in any way a minor who may find himself in a situation of helplessness or lack of protection.
In the workshop that ended at the Prosecutor’s Office, included in the official party program, they simulated, among other things, the making of a fictitious Molotov cocktail and how to throw it at the police or how to make a barricade with containers.
The case of the Granollers festivities once again highlights the use of criminal proceedings, intended for serious acts punishable by sanctions provided for in the Penal Code, in the face of activities that are not liked or that may be morally disapproved.
The activity that mocked the police was organized by the “Blaus” (blue), one of the two “colles” that make up the town’s festivities. As happens in several Catalan villages, the division between “colles” symbolizes the historical rivalries of the town. In the case of Granollers, the “Blaus” traditionally constitute the working class and they compete to win the festivities against the “Blancs” (whites), linked to the richest.
The main festival allows the “Blaus” to organize, in addition to concerts, satirical activities that mock the power in place, like those that take place in other cities for the carnival or for the respective patron saint festivals. In previous major festivals, for example, the “Blaus” organized a fictitious coup d’état or eliminated a “Sant Blau” in a procession that provoked the anger of the Church.
ElDiario.es contacted the “Blaus”, but the group referred to a statement published online this Tuesday in response to what it considers a “false statement” by various media about what happened at the parties. “In no case was there any intention to offend the security forces”, the group stated. It should be noted that several police officers participate in the “colles” in Granollers.
Ignoring the whole context of a big party, the police unions denounced the mayor of Granollers, Alba Barnusell, for hate crimes and serious insults against the security forces, although the police are not a group traditionally discriminated against and protected by hate crimes.
The Granollers City Council, governed by the PSC, rejected the activity in a statement and indicated that it was unaware of the content of the event, in addition to reiterating its firm defense of the “values of peace and coexistence.”
