More than four months after the violent charges carried out by Spanish police and which neither the Interior minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, nor the central government's delegate to Catalonia, Enric Millo, have apologised for in public or in private to the more than 1,000 people who needed medical attention on that 1st October, a court in Barcelona has taken the first step to finding out the truth. Two anti-riot agents from Spain's National Police have been called to court under investigation, the judge has requested the communications between the command centre and the anti-riot officers and the coordinator of the police operation, colonel Diego Pérez de los Cobos, has been called as a witness.
It's the first step to eradicate the false narrative which, unconnected to the truth, they've tried to propagate: the violence came from the demonstrators and the police had no other option than to act towards the clear obstruction to carrying out their work. It's very possible that the work of Barcelona's court of instruction number 7 could be interrupted at some point by some higher legal process which believes that the case is already being investigated by the National Audience or the Supreme Court. But the fact that more than 200 reports of injuries from the charges on 1st October have been presented to the court is sufficient material for each of the serious events which took place, and about which there is ample photographic and video material, to be dealt with individually.
The time elapsed since the 1st October perhaps helps with having a more accurate perspective on what happened on that black day. The way in which the reality of the police violence has been denied has only reinforced the idea that the firm pact between PP, PSOE and Cs also included closing ranks before the seriousness of events and refusing any independent investigation. Neither the international criticism of politicians, institutions and bodies, nor the role played by the world's media in spreading images unacceptable in any democracy, of the police beating members of the public who wanted to vote, have managed to overcome the legal stonewall.
The members of the public who defended the right to vote deserve an explanation. Those injured who suffered the police violence deserve an explanation. Those who criticised the police violence, wherever they're from, deserve an explanation.
Defending the truth and reaching the end in their search, sometimes it's neither easy nor comfortable. Maybe for that alone it's already good news.