Spain • • • 🌿 Progressive

Calle española al atardecer con contenedores volcados y cristales rotos tras unos disturbios
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Feijóo pledges to restore penalty enhancer for masked vandalism

Alberto Núñez Feijóo pledged to restore the penalty enhancer for covering the face during unrest and to raise penalties when such acts are summoned on social…

--- The context --- Unrest in Barcelona and Bilbao has placed public order at the center of the campaign, and the PP has decided to make its response one of its main themes, according to party sources. In that setting, its president and candidate for the Presidency of the Government, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, presented a concrete criminal proposal on Tuesday during a radio interview. --- The facts --- Feijóo pledged to restore the penalty enhancer when unrest and acts of vandalism occur with faces covered, and to increase penalties when such acts are summoned through social media. He recalled that the enhancer for covering the face was removed in 2022 under an agreement between the PSOE and Podemos, and he argued that the acts of vandalism in Barcelona and Bilbao must receive a response. After the unrest this Monday in Bilbao, the party secretary general, Miguel Tellado, traveled on Tuesday to the Basque city to visit the affected area, and Feijóo will do the same tomorrow in Barcelona. The PP leader also pledged to reveal, if he reaches government, all the information held by the National Intelligence Center and the police about the mass entry of immigrants into Ceuta in late July. --- The positions --- Feijóo said in reported speech that he must be the guarantor of public order in the streets and that his party will restore the removed enhancer. He also criticized Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, describing him as missing and concerned only with having stood on the PSOE lists for the November 29 elections. On Ceuta, he said the government of Pedro Sánchez is lying once again and that the lie is very serious because it affects the territorial integrity of Spain. --- What remains unknown --- The proposal does not yet detail how it would be proven that unrest was summoned through social media, nor the exact scope of the announced increase in penalties. It is also unknown what specific information about Ceuta would be made public if the PP reaches government. --- Unanswered questions --- How will it be proven in each case that a call on social media caused specific unrest? What safeguards will prevent peaceful protest from being confused with acts of vandalism? What documents about the late July entry into Ceuta would be revealed, and with what limits? --- EPM analysis --- The initiative combines a criminal measure, immediate visits to the two affected cities, and a transparency pledge on Ceuta. That mix seeks to respond to violence without giving up on explaining past state decisions, although its effectiveness will depend on precise definitions, verifiable evidence, and enforcement that clearly distinguishes summoning violence from exercising rights in public space. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, restoring a removed enhancer requires showing with data that the earlier rule reduced unrest and that its absence explains what happened in Barcelona and Bilbao, without turning every protest into general suspicion. A useful debate must separate vandal violence from peaceful participation, specify how a social media call will be proven, and guarantee clear controls on the proportionality of penalties. Without that precision, the proposal risks remaining a campaign gesture rather than a reform that can be applied and verified in the streets.
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