Civil guards say there was no violence from protesters   On Tuesday, 11 civil guards who attended the second oral session in the Carpinteria’s work area, the vast majority of whom were summoned by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, testified. And compared to yesterday, everything went fast and much quieter. If there is one thing to emphasize in the testimony of all of them, it is that those who protested were placed in front of the machines, but without a violent attitude.   Today’s session was very different from yesterday’s session https://www.argia.eus/albistea/akusazioek-izen-bat-nabarmendu-dute-lehen-saioan-garbine-elizegi. The one on Monday was harsh for the defendants, especially for Garbiñe Elizegi, because the most precise accusations were against the latter, in addition to those made repeatedly. References to other defendants were rarely heard, much less related to anything specific. Today, even less so. The civil guards have been very inaccurate in terms of dates, and the identification of the people, in the vast majority of cases, was done through photographs, videos and other testimonies. They have mentioned that in April 2021 they often went to the works, but without knowing when, and some have mentioned that they “worked there for months” in retrospect. In his questions the prosecutor has constantly tried to emphasize whether they saw any damage, sabotage, insults or violence, and yes, some of the civil guards have mentioned that they saw the machines damaged, some of the workers told them that they were insulted, but in no case did they see the use of violence by the participants in the protests, and in some cases, although it was difficult, after talking to them they managed to leave before the machines. Not one of them said he saw violence. Several times they looked more like witnesses to the defense than the prosecution. The criminal group as a target This journalist, who has no habit of going to court, is amazed at the attitude of the Prosecutor’s Office and the question immediately comes to him: “So what’s the point of the Attorney General’s Office calling so many civil guards if they don’t specify almost anything, and they confirm that they didn’t see any constant rape?” Well, it’s a bad thing to understand, but at least one hypothesis must be mentioned: he has no evidence with respect to the defendants, he has not managed to link the only crime that occurred in the works of the Carpinteria with the defendants... but instead he wants to prove that he was an organized group to prove one of the accusations: that there was a criminal group. The questions from the prosecution and the prosecution seem to have been asked primarily to prove it: “Did anyone give orders in the group?”, “do you think they were organized?”, “was the scope of the works very large?”, “were the entrances controlled?”, “were they working in groups?”... and at no time did he ask, yesterday or today, whether the defendants were seen committing one or another crime. You can’t connect, but you can create a general atmosphere. From what has been seen so far, the most concrete issues that are opposed to the accusations are that Garbiñe Elizegi told the protesters not to talk, not to say anything; but of course, this can be more to avoid confrontation between workers and activists, or with countless other reasons. The voices of the defendants will be heard on Thursday and the issues will be clarified. Listening to the accusations, however, today they have also gone in the direction of yesterday: if they do not succeed in punishing the defendants, if at least they succeed in proving that there was a criminal group. But what was that team? Who was it composed of? They also have a hard time proving it, but they're collecting material. Collect and collect. The carpentry and then what association has been placed on the front line of the indictment, as if it were a crime to ask to stop a project, when that association is registered as a legal association through the NIF, or as if it was a crime to be president of that association. Everything goes to show: Since Elizegi was a former mayor, he was president of this association, he appeared several times in the works and in the media, and he gave some alleged “orders” that he is the leader of the criminal group. The first civil guard who testified today spoke of what he saw during the first days of his work: “People were sitting in front of an excavator, so they wouldn’t let the workers work (...), but they didn’t insult them. It was a peaceful attitude (...) The workers were afraid to get off the machine, in the end the protesters turned away and the worker left.” Second Civil Guard: “We were in Lekaroz for months (...) I didn’t see people on the caterpillar chains of the machines, but the machines had stickers. I also saw damaged machines.” A civilian guard at the Oronoz-Mugairi post: “I didn’t make an ID, but once I saw the former mayor of Elizondo; I didn’t know him, but my colleagues told me that he was... We managed to retire without using violence.” Another civil guard who was displaced from the Pamplona reservation unit says he was at work at least three times: “I saw 50-100 people put first on the ground, then they did the camping on the weekend.” He says they shouted and insulted, but he doesn’t remember what, “and they stood in front of the machines.” On April 20, the citizens obstructed the work of a stream and the civil guard who left Elizondo said that “they were sitting, in a passive position, singing something that was a joke or ridiculous, something about a dog, a song for children [Pintto-pintto our dog...], not directly, but they were doing it to insult us.” Another agent at Etxalar's post: “Tell me what you saw,” the prosecutor asks. “There were about 20 people sitting in front of the machines, and the workers told us they couldn’t work. There were also TV cameras, from Voz, which we also identified because they had been recorded by foresters and had entered the area without permission. In the end, the protesters marched (...) 200 meters away or another group stopped another machine, and the former mayor gave orders to them.” Later the defense asks him if the leader spoke Basque or Spanish, and this is where the civil guard gets complicated: the protesters also sometimes spoke Basque to the civil guards, the leader gave orders in Basque, but sometimes he also spoke Spanish to the group... One after the other, they have been like the testimonies of all the civil guards. Tomorrow, Wednesday 20, the forensics will testify at the request of the prosecutor’s office; and as witnesses of the defense, the former mayor of Lekaroz, Ernesto Prat, the former mayor of Baztan, Joseba Otondo, and journalists of the media.