James Bryce
AN action group set up to draw attention to excessive border queues has been criticised by a Spanish police union.
Defenders of Gibraltar, formed in response to motorists being subjected to delays of up to six hours, film and photograph police checks to use as evidence of unnecessary hold-ups.
But bosses of the UFP police union, which represents the Guardia Civil officers carrying out the checks, have now accused the group of ‘hounding and insulting’ its members.
It said officers’ faces and ID numbers had been posted on internet forums and that, as a consequence, none of its members wanted the job of carrying out the checks.
“The magnitude of what is happening is only understood by those who have to endure the situation,” read a statement.
However, campaigners have hit back at the allegations, claiming they only take action when they deem the checks to be excessive.
“We always act within the law and are merely placing the Spanish controls under public scrutiny,” said Gareth Gingell, a Defenders of Gibraltar member.
When your job is to uphold the liberties of society and protect the rights of those unable to protect themselves why would you want to hide your identity?
But if you feel that your job is to intimidate your neighbours and to oppress the majority of your countrymen for the benefit of an elite then it’s perfectly understandable to want to cover your face and hide your identity. How else do we expect them to cope with the shame?
Police and the state should serve the citizen, not what we have now.
These police take their wages from our taxes. We should have the right to know who works for us and who is enforcing our country’s laws. It should be illegal for them to hide their identities.
Ben,
your post covers most police forces in most countries and yes most police see their job as working to orders from the elites,that’s because only those of right wing views pass the vetting stage. This is even more true in the UK than it is in modern day Spain.
Your wrong though about why they cover their faces and remove anything that can identify them – it is’nt shame but fear of retribution if a revolution takes place.
It’s worth remembering where the Geheimstatspolitzei/Gestapo were drawn from – the German National Police.
“It said officers’ faces and ID numbers had been posted on internet forums”
I see no evidence that officers are covering their faces and hide their identity. In fact, I often have to cross the border and I have never seen a police or Guardia Civil officer do that.
They may very well do that elsewhere but this piece is about the Gibraltar-Spain border.
Or did I miss something in the story?
Frankly – if I have to wait MORE then 15 minutes to get in, or 15 minutes to get out of Gibralter – I don’t GO THERE!!
It’s not worth the time/effort – we’d shop elsewhere, cheaper.
Closed of the fence is the solution for all.
Brujo. To “close the fence” Spain needs to leave the EU first. So go on, leave the EU and the close the fence!
I would have thought the Guardia Civil would have better things to do like intercepting the illegal immigrants from Africa rather than plucking their bodies out of the sea. Still that’s coming from an ex right wing thug of a British Policeman, Ben.
What do these fascist guards expect? A thank you from those people who are being made to wait 6 hours?
Brujo it’s a border! If you want to close it, take all your countrymen and women back and feed them yourself! Your fascist govt should have plenty of money to feed them, Pringao!
Cas
Tipically british about my people do it yourself you gave them the jobs and try to used against their on country not our responsability it´s yours do as you wish.
Menudo troll parió tu madre macho.
Iestyn ap Robert
I do not want to be in it.
@Cas
Heck girl, no! Twenty years down the line they would be demanding that we pay them their pensions, AGAIN! … And some Howe will fawn and courtesy to them again and saddle the long suffering British Tax Payer with yet another subsidy to Spain!
Bruji, write to your diputado then, get yourself elected, whatever, do something about it!
Never seen a police force of any democratic country that deliberately go out to hamper the lives of law abiding persons.
Spain is going down… the Franco way!
Peter,
tell me how many Socialists/Communists or Anarchists there are in all the police forces in the UK – don’t bother I know the answer – none. Only when police mirror the whole of society will people begin to trust them – maybe.
When I lived in the Netherlands among my Dutch friends were two coppers – one was a member of a Dutch Conservatives, he was a dog handler and the other was a seargent and a member of the Dutch Communist party. Both were well aware of the total bias towards the extreme right prevalent in the UK police. Ruud, the seargent would never have got past the vetting stage as well you know.
Orgreave/Hillsborough ring a bell. How about Blair Peach, Charles de Menedes murdered in cold blood. How many UK coppers In the EDL? Bending over backwards to help the nasty Murdoch clan. Undercover scum infiltrating peaceful protest movements – it goes on and on does’nt it.
I well remember old Jewish men telling me how violenty anti-Semitic the UK police were before WW11. All the drug and antique squads were and are corrupt to the core.
Be careful, the Brits might decide one day to stop all the overly generous police pension payments.
Whenever a society implodes, the first to turn and run are always the police.
Jake
Did you see many spanish people harassing british police?
“…how many Socialists/Communists or Anarchists there are in all the police forces in the UK – don’t bother I know the answer – none.”
Stuart Crawford, you may be right but your claim to “know the answer” just doesn´t wash. That is a gross generalisation and you know it. Nobody knows the answer because police officers rarely tell the media about their political beliefs.
For sure there are probably very few communists, and even fewer anarchists, in the UK police forces. A pity, I know, and for the reasons you gave. But “none”?
Socialists? Well, that depends on how you define that word. Police officers who have voted for the Labour Party – yes, there will be some. Some of them might even think of themselves as “socialists” because of their voting records. You (and I) may question that as evidence that they are socialists but that is open to debate.
Similarly your claim that “Whenever a society implodes, the first to turn and run are always the police” is fraught with over-generalisations. For a start, you need to define what you mean by “implode” when you are talking about a society.
However, I agree with the rest of your comment: you are spot on. But, in my opinion at least, overall it is spoiled by those generalisations.
Bru,
No, only police forces of dictatorial regimes behave like the Guardia Civil. You will find a few examples in South America and former USSR, despot controlled, states.
Jake
Spain is a dictatorial regime?
hahaha. Try standing on the spanish side and taking a picture of the civil guards. Will the headline be ‘Guards harassed by Brit’ or ‘Brit beaten within an inch of his life for taking photo’???
Of course the spanish would report ‘Drunken Brit detained for agressive behaviour. causes 20,00 euros of damage’.
Hey stewart, do everyone a favour, walk up to the civil guards at the border, and ask them to stop causing unnecessary delays…
Getting back to the issue of filming police offers and other public servants working in public places. If you don’t think it’s a good idea to film the police doing the job of serving the public interest then please watch this;
“www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc8piTgjDHA”
If we don’t hold them accountable then eventually your turn will come.