Ciudadanos (Cs) doesn't plan to file a complaint with police over an attack against a camera operator at an anti-violence rally the pro-union party organised yesterday in Barcelona. Demonstrators punched, pushed and kicked the man, who works for Madrid channel Telemadrid, thinking he worked for TV3, the Catalan public broadcaster.
In a statement to the media, Cs' leader in Catalonia, Inés Arrimadas, who was at the demonstration when the attack took place, has announced the party won't file a report. This is just days after they filed a complaint over another attack in the same park last Saturday, an attack which also inspired today's protest.
The party argue it only files complaints when hate crimes take place, specifically citing last Saturday's incident as an example. Arrimadas, however, did condemn the incident, saying that journalists should be able to work in "calm" and "without fear". The journalist attacked yesterday has reported it to police.
A woman, who filmed the incident on her phone (video below), was shouting "TV3, out", when the camera operator walked past her. She asked if he was from TV3, he said no, and appears to have tried to stop her filming. As he walked away, she started shouting "don't hit me, don't touch me", then "he's from TV3, he's threatening me". He said he's from Telemadrid, she replied that she didn't believe him. At this point, he started to be swept into the crowd, which took up a chant of "out, out, out".
Reports also suggest that a yellow sticker on his camera, as can be seen in the photo above, was confused with a symbol of support for the Catalan political prisoners, and that this exacerbated the incident.