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Cases of discrimination in the area of citizen security
to the police station. The victim stated that he wanted to file charges against the police and the next thing he
knew he was thrown into a holding cell at the police station.
The police claimed that the main was taken into custody for domestic violence and resisting authority. His wife
repeatedly stated that he had not assaulted her. Nevertheless, they told us that they are awaiting a hearing for
these charges.
We would note that the number and intensity of police checks is usually much higher in neighbourhoods such
as the Cañada Real in Madrid where many Roma live.
12.
Murcia.
Citizen security.
Direct discrimination.
The following incident involving four Roma boys happened
in Murcia. The children were at a family kiosk that sells sweets when four police vans that were apparently on a
routine patrol around the neighbourhood showed up. The vehicles stopped suddenly and armed police officers
carrying shields got out and told the boys to line up against the wall with their hands in the air. They hit them
repeatedly with their shields and weapons.
The boys who suffered this attack claimed that they had not resisted authority. They started by hitting the
boys in the legs and knees. The victims, battered and bewildered, obeyed police orders without any resistance.
One of the people there tried to calm the children telling them to do what they were told and to not to be afraid
so that the police could finish their work and leave.
When the police went inside the kiosk one person asked them if they had a warrant to which the officer annou-
nced: “I’m the warrant”.
This police intervention, considered illegal and disproportionate, was reported to the Public Prosecutor of the
Autonomous Community and also to the Government Delegation of Murcia. We have not yet received a res-
ponse from the authorities.
A Coruña. Citizen Security. Direct discrimination. The people reporting this incident were on their break in the
middle of an examination to earn their secondary education diploma at a school in A Coruña. It happened at ap-
proximately noon inside the school building.
Two plain-clothes men came up to them and identified themselves as police officers. One of them had a badge
hanging around his neck. They asked the complainants, two Roma men, to go outside with them. They did this in
front of all the people gathered there (several hundred) and asked to see their ID cards. The complainants obeyed
the orders and went outside, even though the officers failed to tell them the reason. Once they were outside,
the police first turned their attention to one of the men. He gave them his ID card and both officers recorded it.
They then ordered him to empty his pockets and placed all of his belongings on top of a nearby wastebasket.
Then they addressed the other person and repeated the same operation. One of them asked why they were
being checked to which the officers responded that they had received a call from the school but would not
reveal the reason for the call. After seeing that these two men had done nothing wrong, the officers left without
any further explanation and without asking for documentation or checking any other person there. One of the
men when to the school administration office to enquire about the police check. The director admitted that they
called the police because they had seen people outside the school premises consuming illegal substances but
did not say who. The police officers only checked the two complainants even though they were not committing
any crime or consuming any substance.
After the exam, at approximately 13:30, they went to the A Coruna branch of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano
to request advice; they were visibly shaken.
That same day in the afternoon, FSG staff members went personally to the Eduardo Pondal adult education
school where the incident had occurred. They informed the administration of the complainants’ intention of filing
a complaint for discrimination and asked them why they had called the police. They then denied that the phone
call had been made by the school administration.