The Catalan Parliament has this Wednesday approved a new protocol for the entrance of members of the security forces and corps. This requires, among other conditions, that the agents leave their arms at the building's entrance and that they have their faces uncovered.
The protocol was approved after the Civil Guard entered the Parliament at the end of July to try and find information on the 'case of 3%' for which the Junts pel Sí deputy Germà Gordó is under investigation. That case alleges that a previous Catalan government took a three percent commission on the budgets of public work contracts that it adjudicated.
The document, which Europa Press has had access to, intends to solve the uncertainty over the entry of police to the Parliament and details the actions to follow in such instances. In particular, it stipulates that the agents will have to identify themselves to the Mossos d'Esquadra Catalan police posted at the entrance to the Parliament and "explain the reason for their presence".
Afterwards, the president of the Parliament, Carme Forcadell, will be informed so that she may "authorise the entry into the building" of agents that have official warrants. If they have authorisation and access the building, they will have to "deposit their arms in the corresponding cupboard".
Strong criticisms from Albiol
This document, which has been approved unanimously by the Parliament's Board, has provoked strong criticisms from the Catalan PP (Popular Party), which has no vote on the Board. The president of PP in Catalonia, Xavier García Albiol, believes that the protocol "intends to limit the work of the security agents" and said that "it's one more way to attempt to restrict the action of the Justice system in a Parliament".
"Have Cs (Citizens) and PSC (Socialist Party of Catalonia) lost their senses?" he added. Both parties voted in favour of the protocol but, according to the PP, "it is incomprehensible that they give their support to a proposal that says that when the Civil Guard comes with a warrant it must be the president, one of the instigators of the independence movement, that decides whether they can enter [the Parliament] or not."
For this reason, Albiol has asked Cs and PSC to ask for a new Board meeting so they can re-vote on the protocol and correct their position.
Asked about the PP leader's statements, the leader of the PSC, Miquel Iceta, assured that the rule aims to help the work of the Civil Guard and to set up waiting areas. "The rest are Albiol's ideas," he stressed.