NY Times editorial: "Spanish gag law, a return to dark days of Franco regime"

Barcelona"On April 10, a group called No Somos Delito or We Are Not a Crime, projected a hologram of protesting marchers filing in front of the Parliament building in Madrid. For the time being, virtual protests in the form of holograms are not illegal in Spain. Incredibly, however, almost every other kind of peaceful protest soon will be if a new law goes into effect as scheduled on July 1." Thus begins the editorial published Wednesday in "The New York Times", where, under the title "Spain’s Ominous Gag Law", the newspaper criticised the new State public security law.

"The law’s main purpose, it appears, is to help the ruling party maintain its hold on power by discouraging the anti-austerity protests that have snowballed into widespread support for the populist Podemos party" continues the editorial, stating that the group led by Pablo Iglesias has much to gain in the upcoming elections.

The New York Times calls on the European Commission to "act swiftly to condemn the new law". The newspaper notes that the special rapporteur at the UN on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, Maina Kiai, has urged Spanish lawmakers to reject the new measure, arguing that the right to peaceful protest is fundamental to the existence of a free and democratic society. "Spain’s new gag law disturbingly harkens back to the dark days of the Franco regime. It has no place in a democratic nation, where Spaniards, as citizens of the European Union, have more than a virtual right to peaceful, collective protest", concluded the NY Times editorial.

"Escraches"-- group verbal protests directed at public figures-- and gatherings to prevent evictions are some of the actions that will be punishable under the new public security law, passed with the votes of the PP and UPN but rejected by all other opposition parties.