A young man in Spain has been fined for calling the police lazy in a Facebook post – becoming the first citizen to fall foul of a series of controversial new “gag” laws.
The 27-year-old man, identified only as Eduardo D in national media reports, described the local police force as a “class of slackers” in a series of online posts which he described as humorous.
The Spanish senate approved the Citizen Security Law in March, and its effects came into force at the start of July. It has been widely criticised with UN human rights experts stating it would “unnecessarily and disproportionately restrict basic freedoms”.
According to the Spanish daily El Pais, Eduardo made three comments on Facebook criticising the money spent on police facilities in his town of Güímar, Tenerife.
He also accused local authorities of misappropriating a public building, and in a third post suggested local police were so lazy they might as well have “a hammock and a swimming pool” at each station.
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Man fined €600 under Spanish gag laws for calling police ‘slackers’ in Facebook post