Fined for speaking in Basque to a policeman in Bilbao
After the annual festivities in Bilbao (Bizkaia, Basque Country), a municipal policeman fined a man dismantling stands used during the celebrations. Twice. One of the fines was for speaking in Basque, which was "a lack of respect towards the agent".
Arkaitz Zarraga, a resident of Bilbao, explained on his Twitter account what had happened. He said that traffic was limited during the city's festivities but that the members of the Konpartsak –special associations which take part in the festivities– have permission to use vehicles; even so, a policeman stopped him.
"I asked him to speak in Basque, and his attitude changed!", said Zarraga. After stating that he preferred to speak with public servants in Basque, the agent said that "he was well aware of his own rights".
Zarraga did not give up, reminding him that he had to respect citizens' rights. The answer: "Give me your ID card, driving licence and insurance papers; I've radioed for reinforcements."
And then another policeman appeared, a Basque-speaker. "He's asked you to park the car", he said. But Zarraga knew the second policeman, they had studied together, he explained: "We even used to discuss socio-linguistics in class, and I told him it was unfair. He was ashamed".
But that did not change the way the conversation with the municipal police ended: they fined Zarraga twice. "One fine was to do with driving. The other for not respecting the agent! I'm the criminal once again. His rights are worth more than mine. I went back to taking the stands down completely frustrated, angry and with the need to tell somebody!"
This Basque language enthusiast believes that that Bilbao's Basque bye-laws do not protect Basque-speakers in this type of situation.
Tweets about what happened have abounded, and Zarraga has received many messages of support.
This article was translated by 11itzulpen; you can see the original in Basque here.
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