Girona, Catalonia: Statement of woman activist arrested in the vicinity of Mas Castelló squat

Everyday repression in the context of “No M.A.T.” struggle (against the construction of the very high tension power line)

I was stopped by the police on the path to the gas station. What started as what I thought was a random ID check turned into me being arrested due to false allegations by the police, a night in custody and me now facing trial. The fact that I was not from this area played a big role throughout the confrontation, and resulted in fascist remarks and police violence.

I can only assume that the reason behind this repression is to divide us and to keep the protest local. But it is not local, it is a global struggle that affects us all and therefore shouldn’t be left to address by a small group of people that feels responsible, but by anyone with a social and environmental conscience.

The answer to massive police intimidation and repression cannot be to back down, but to organize and support more strongly on any possible level.

Thank you for all the support and solidarity I have received; I will continue to give mine.

The facts:

On the 16.9.2013 at around 7pm I took the road to the gas station to buy drinks. There was a control by the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalonian cops), and they asked for my ID. I gave them my passport and they told me to put all my stuff on the front of the car; then the only female officer wanted to search me. I asked why and they said: “because we are police”. I said that’s no reason. They searched me and asked me what I was doing there, and I replied: “I gave my ID. I will not answer your questions”. From this moment on they were very aggressive. At some point one cop said: “take your things and go.” I felt that he didn’t want to let me go, but had to. I said in an ironic way: “Thank you! That’s so nice of you!” Then he spat in my face and I spat right back. He then immediately punched me in the head. I fell down and three cops sat on my back, handcuffed and punched me, and the cop who spat in my face said: “now you understand Catalan” and they took me to the station.

There I told the officer who did the bureaucracy procedure that her colleague had hit me and that I wanted his identification number, but she ignored me. Then they locked me up without telling me what’s going on. The next day they took my fingerprints, they photographed me, questioned me but I refused to say anything. Around noon they took me to the court and following my state-appointed lawyer’s “instructions” I answered the judges’ questions. I was let go until my trial – apparently the cops told the judge I had kicked and punched them, etc. Later, I got in contact with the lawyer who supports the struggle against the M.A.T., who will take care of the future court proceedings.

More information and updates: Torres más altas han caído