During the night of Wednesday, San Sebastian Day, there have been violent incidents in the Guipuzkoan capital. After 20:00 hours, coinciding with the closing time of the bars, the police appeared in the Plaza de la Constitución to try to evict the plaza before the flag went down Mayor Eneko Goia. In recent weeks, for the umpteenth time, there was an altercation between the police and the citizens, which lasted until midnight.
The Ertzaintza used rubber claws and balls, and a pelotazo broke a person's jaw, according to Piztu Donostia:
A PUNCH BREAKS THE JAW IN THE OLD PART. How long will the Ertzaintza use these weapons, which are not deadly but are seriously wounded? Where is the ball hitting the face thrown? pic.twitter.com/lEVZUvxdPy
— PIZTU DONOSTIA (@Share D) January 21, 2021
The images gathered by several texts show the aggressive attitude of the Ertzaintza towards citizenship, among the protests of the neighbors:
Donostia Plenary Session, SHAME. Besterik ez. pic.twitter.com/n2QxalkfXT
— Laura (@Laurasanntiso_) January 20, 2021
A video in which the Naiz media has released a video in which you see a group of ertzainas and you can hear the official's words with the following order: “We’ll shoot to play, OK?”
🔴 [SONORO DOCUMENT] “We are going to throw out”, order of the Ertzaintza last night in the Donostiarra Party https://t.co/Uc5yUeg0EW has passed two days after the fake closure of the Cabacas case pic.twitter.com/zJvPcdCrUk
— I am: (@naiz_info) january 21, 2021
The disturbances initiated in the Casco Viejo began to spread as the area was emptied. After the events, the Ertzaintza arrested four people at the scene. The Department of Security has reported that there are at least eight wounded, all of them Ertzaintza agents. However, there are also injuries among the population, as the seriously injured is a young man who has suffered a fracture in the cheek.
According to the version of the Department of Security, several citizens in the Plaza de la Constitución launched objects against the Municipal Police who had to ask for help from the Ertzaintza.
However, the public has been warning for several days about the interventions being carried out by the Ertzaintza in the Old Part of Donostiarra. Five days later, the Ertzaintza has once again beaten the neighbours of the Old Town for the third time, as on Saturdays and Sundays at night, young people were also torn up in the Plaza de la Trinidad. Following the weekend’s incidents, the Piztu Donostia platform released a statement denouncing that citizens comply with the curfew “with other health criteria” and that at 22:00 the Casco Viejo is usually empty. In this sense, the platform wondered “what then come these Ertzaintza offensives that cause disturbances?”, stating that there are incidents when the police force launches young people and children. “Without the Ertzaintza, Trinia is emptied every day normally,” they stressed.
The platform has pointed out on social networks that, in view of the interventions in the plaza de la Trinidad, the Ertzaintza has claimed that the young people drank from the street. The images show nothing of this:
VIEW, VIEW, VIEW...
This is the subversive atmosphere and the bottle you found today at 21:00...
The Diario Vasco and the Ertzaintza lie ...
THE LIAR IS ALWAYS TAKEN! pic.twitter.com/4PxA8rDH9q
— PIZTU DONOSTIA (@Share D) January 17, 2021
"It is clear that the Old Party and the area's neighbours are in the spotlight. With this criminalization against youth, it is intended to hold young people accountable for the evolution of the pandemic. To divert attention and justify the irresponsibility of the authorities, institutional, political and economic", they read in a press release.
The Youth Assembly of the Old Town of Bilbao has called for a mobilization to denounce the attitude of the Ertzaintza in recent times. “No to repression! Under the motto “Stop criminalization against young people”, a demonstration will start at 12:00 from Boulevard.