Wave of bicycle thefts

There's been a spate of bicycle thefts in Valle Gran Rey in recent times. Last weekend the robbers were at it again. The above picture shows what was left of our bicycle on Saturday morning. Both wheels were gone as were the handlebars with all brake and gear levers. The frame remained locked to a lamp post in an area which is normally considered safe. To add insult to injury, the bike had been serviced by a local bike store with new tyre fitted just a few days before. When reporting the crime to the Spanish police (Guardia Civil in La Playa) we met a cycling enthusiast who had brought his own bike on the plane with him for his holidays in La Gomera, only to have it brazenly stolen from outside a bar in La Playa where he had spent only a short time inside on Friday night. The complete bike was taken while there were lots of people in the busy lane where it happened and the bike was locked securely, or so he thought. There have been several more reports of bicycles either completely vanishing or of valuable parts being stolen from them in recent times.

While La Gomera is still relatively free of crime and nearly all its inhabitants are very honest and trustworthy, the above incidents are a worrying trend. However, La Gomera is a relatively small island and sooner or later the perpetrators will be caught and brought to justice. The times of only a few years ago when hardly anybody bothered to lock their bicycles and when a bike disappeared it had just been 'borrowed' by someone a bit too lazy to walk from pub A to pub B where it was found intact the following morning, seem to be gone though.

Civil rights cut in Spain

Mural spotted in Vueltas on La Gomera last winter
(Image: lagomera1.blogspot.com)

Spanish Congress Approves Draconian Laws

Recently three laws widely criticized by the opposition and human rights groups were approved in Spanish Congress. The Penal Code, the new Anti-Terror Law and the Law on Citizen Safety. The three new texts challenge freedom of expression in the streets and on the Internet. All three laws are scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2015.

Law on Citizen Safety (Gag Law)

“The gag law is revenge against social movements that emerged after 15M” – Patricia Martin, Avaaz

Under the new Citizen Safety Law or Ley Mordaza (Gag Law) as human rights defenders have renamed it, public protests, freedoms of speech and the press and documenting police abuses will become crimes punishable by heavy fines and/or jail. Some key points on the Ley Mordaza:

Photographing or recording police – 600 to 30.000€ fine.
Peaceful disobedience to authority – 600 to 30.000€ fine.
Occupying banks as means of protest – 600 to 30.000€ fine.
Not formalizing a protest – 600 to 30.000€ fine.
For carrying out assemblies or meetings in public spaces – 100 to 600€ fine.
For impeding or stopping an eviction – 600 to 30.000€ fine.
For presence at an occupied space (not only social centers but also houses occupied by evicted families) – 100 to 600€ fine.
Police black lists for protesters, activists, and alternative press have been legalized.
Meeting or gathering in front of Congress – 600 to 30.000€ fine.
Appealing the fines in court requires the payment of judicial costs, whose amount depends on the fine.
It allows random identity checks, allowing for racial profiling of immigrants and minorities.
Police can now carry out raids at their discretion, without the need for “order” to have been disrupted.
External bodily searches are also now allowed at police discretion.

The government can prohibit any protest at will, if it feels “order” will be disrupted.

Any ill-defined “critical infrastructure” is now considered a forbidden zone for public gatherings if it might affect their functioning.

There are also fines for people who climb buildings and monuments without permission. (This has been a common method of protest from organizations like Greenpeace.)

The Gag Law will also affect internet freedoms as tweets calling for demonstrations or protests may be subject to penalties and fines for organizers. While an individual user may not be considered “an organizer” it could also be construed to include anyone who disseminates a call to protest through any media, including social media.

“This is the worst cut of rights and freedoms since the Franco regime,” – Virginia Pérez Alonso, PDLI

Above article was posted recently by Queenie on queeniesdailysnippets

Better to shut up ?

IslandConnections.eu reported the following amazing story of Spanish arbitrary police:

Driver fined for 'talking too much' to passenger

A driver from Gran Canaria hit the headlines here and elsewhere over the week-end for receiving a fine for a bizarre reason. 

A photo of the traffic summons posted by Cadena Ser radio on its website

Agaete - 16.12.2013 - The 41-year-old van driver has been doing the rounds of TV and radio since Friday when he was pulled over and handed a summons because Civil Guard traffic branch officers considered that he was "talking to his passenger too much" to be able to concentrate on the road ahead. "I was stunned when I was stopped and I honestly thought someone was playing a joke on me. I did admit to talking to my van mate but I was doing what we all do when driving" said the flabbergasted driver, who has until 2 January to decide whether to admit the offence and pay the fine, in which case he will receive a 50% discount.