About 50 people called by the Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) gathered outside the National Police station in La Jonquera on Tuesday, blocking Carrer Major for about an hour to protest over allegations of linguistic discrimination and police misconduct involving Junts MP Isaac Padrós.

For residents using DNI, Spain's national identity card, or passport services, the case raises questions about access to public documentation services in Catalan and the treatment of people with visual disabilities. The Spanish Government Delegation in Catalonia has opened an internal procedure to establish what happened, according to L'Empordà's reporting.

The ANC described the incident as police abuse and linguistic discrimination. Representatives of Junts, ERC and the CUP attended the protest outside the station.

Padrós's complaint concerns a 29 July DNI appointment

Padrós, who is blind, filed a complaint with the Fiscalía de Girona, the Girona public prosecutor's office, after attending the La Jonquera station with his partner and daughter on the morning of 29 July to renew his daughter's DNI.

According to the account in his complaint, reported by CatalunyaPress, the family presented proof of large-family status but were refused the claimed exemption from the DNI issue fee.

  • Padrós said an officer referred him to an entrance notice setting out when the document had to be shown.
  • He said the notice was inaccessible to him because of his blindness.
  • He alleged that seven further officers entered the room and that a request for a translator after he continued speaking Catalan was refused because no translator was available.
“No sign is accessible to me,” Padrós said he told the officer, according to his complaint.

These are allegations made by Padrós in his complaint. The internal procedure announced by the Spanish Government Delegation is intended to gather information and determine the facts with safeguards in place.

Delegation cites five language complaints in seven months

The Spanish Government Delegation said attention in Catalan is guaranteed at National Police stations and documentation offices in Catalonia. It reported 953,946 DNI and passport procedures between January and July, with five language-related complaints, or 0.00052% of the total, as recorded in L'Empordà's account of the delegation's statement.

“Any possible incident must be investigated,” the delegation said.

The ANC's original call for the protest named the National Police station at Carrer Major 136, La Jonquera.

Reported by emporda.info, Lluís Tomàs, CatalunyaPress.cat, El Món, Jordi Martín, LaRepublica.cat, [email protected], Josep Maria Botanch, Gerió Digital, Por Fede Sáenz Seguir, Llibertat.cat, Carlota Camps, Parlament de Catalunya, L'Empordà.