GC: “They teased us”

“Hateful faces”, “teasing”, “human walls”, “disdain” and “moral hurt” are some of the expressions that were shared across the testimonies of six of the ten agents of the Civil Guard who made declarations in the Supreme Court yesterday. However, upon being questioned by lawyers in the court, none of the agents said that they suffered “any aggression”, though none admitted they used excessive force on voters. One Civil Guard, identified as badge number S17971T compared the 30-person human wall in Bigues i Riells to events during times of terrorism in the Basque Country, and said there were 300 people there (despite obvious photographic evidence to the contrary, such as the photo printed here). It was also evidenced that the Guardia Civil seized CUP party posters, which overstepped their instructions, from the office of the public prosecutor.

The first three agents testifying about the October 1st referendum day, admitted that they were not aware of the order from the Secretary of State for Security that said “to prioritize citizen and police security and safety, over efficiency”, and they claimed not to have received an order to coordinate with the Mossos. One agent disavowed any knowledge of how colleagues of his could be heard on video calling citizens “sons of bitches” and saying “hit them like there is no tomorrow”, when questioned by Andreu Van den Eynde. Another agent was asked by lawyer Jordi Pina: “have you seen the videos where units of the Guardia Civil heading to Catalonia were filmed chanting ‘let’s go get ‘em’?” – his response, near-silent, was simply “yes”.