Guardia Urbana Officer Suspended 24 Days for Refusing to Speak Catalan
Barcelona City Council suspended a Guardia Urbana officer without pay for 24 days over a July incident. What happened, what the council says and what comes next.
The Ajuntament de Barcelona (Barcelona City Council) has suspended a Guardia Urbana (Barcelona’s city police) officer from work and pay for 24 days after he repeatedly refused to speak Catalan to a woman during a police intervention in July, municipal sources told Europa Press on Thursday. The council said the officer treated her inappropriately.
The sanction is not final. The council said it can still be appealed.
What the video shows
The complaint was filed by Plataforma per la Llengua, a group that campaigns for the use of Catalan. It posted part of a video the woman recorded on its social media accounts. In the clip, after she asks the officer several times to address her in Catalan and he declines, he tells her in Spanish that forcing people to speak a language they do not want to use is “muy de fascistas” (very fascist).
The city council said the officer’s attitude and words during the intervention fell short of the standards of respect, correctness and professionalism expected of members of the force.
How the council reached its decision
Once the council learned of the incident, the Unidad de Deontología y Asuntos Internos (UDAI, the Guardia Urbana’s ethics and internal affairs unit) opened an internal investigation and passed its findings to the relevant municipal departments, which imposed the suspension.
The council said it remains committed to protecting residents’ language rights. It added that the force’s command recently reminded officers that, as a general rule, their first spoken contact with the public should be in Catalan, in line with city criteria on public service.
What it means for residents and visitors
Under the council’s guidance, a Guardia Urbana officer approaching you in Barcelona should open in Catalan by default. Plataforma per la Llengua says municipal workers are required to address the public in Catalan first and cannot refuse to serve someone in the language they ask for, which the group describes as a language right.
The group welcomed the ruling. It said the decision is an official recognition that the woman’s language rights were violated, and that this recognition matters more than the sanction itself, because most complaints of discrimination involving the police are shelved. Its president, Òscar Escuder, said the case shows that language discrimination by police forces is neither imagined nor a minor issue, and that the administration must guarantee the right of anyone who asks to be served in Catalan by a public employee.
What happens next
The officer can still appeal the 24-day suspension. Plataforma per la Llengua said it will use the council’s acknowledgment of the facts to ask for the cancellation of a fine that was imposed on the woman. Details of that fine were not disclosed.
Sources: La Vanguardia, 20minutos, Europa Press
