Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera avoided a random check for drugs and explosive material he was asked to submit to at Barcelona's El Prat airport last Sunday 7th October. The requested search was not carried out, on instructions given by the Spanish National Police officers who were acting as his bodyguards; however, the police actions in overriding the search request led to an angry dispute between his minders and airport security staff.
The leader of the Ciudadanos party was flying to Madrid. Having just passed through the security screen and scanner prior to the departure gates area, he was asked to undergo the so-called "traces test", which detects whether travellers have small amounts of any prohibited substance in their luggage, or on their clothes or skin. One of Rivera's bodyguards then spoke to the security staff to tell them that they would take control of the situation and they refused to let the politician in their charge undergo the test, as the digital newspaper Catalunyapress explained (link in Spanish) and a spokesperson for Ciudadanos confirmed to El Nacional.
The security staff then responded that if Rivera did not undergo the test they would have to identify the police officer with his badge number, as protocol required. The situation then became heated and led to a dispute between the security team and police officers. With Rivera already on board his plane, the two bodyguards then returned to the security checkpoint and one of them reprimanded the guards for "interfering in an operation" and he threatened them: "Next time I'll put you in handcuffs".
The National Police officers have made a complaint against the security guards for "interfering in an operation". Private security union Alternativa Sindical has also laid a complaint about the incident. Trablisa, the company responsible for private security at El Prat under the supervision of the state paramilitary police the Civil Guard, has informed its employees that it won't support them in their declarations.
"This is a clash of interests between the Civil Guard and National Police and the weakest link, the workers, pay the price. Is it necessary to obey a police officer's illegal orders?" said one of the airport security staff to Catalunyapress.