BARCELONA, Spain (PNN) - April 11, 2012 - Jorge Fernandez Diaz, the Spanish interior minister announced in Congress on Wednesday that a reform of the penal code was planned to criminalize those involved in organizing street protests that "seriously disturb public peace".
Under the laws, a minimum jail term of two years could be imposed on those found guilty of instigating and carrying out violent acts of protest under a new package of measures unveiled on Wednesday.
However, the draconian fascist proposal has raised fears that the new measures could be used to stem the wave of protests that began last summer with the birth of what has been dubbed the "indignado movement", when tens of thousands of peaceful protesters camped out in squares across Spain.
Protest groups were quick to draw comparisons to the fascist dictatorship of Generalissimo Francisco Franco.
The measures come amid growing incidents of street violence in cities across Spain, most notably Barcelona, where "anti-capitalist" groups were blamed for stirring tensions during last month's general strike.
Diaz said "serious disturbances of public order and intent to organize violent demonstrations through means such as social networking" would carry the same penalty as involvement in a criminal organization under the new reform.
But he also said that the measures would extend pig thug cop powers to deal with passive resistance as contempt of court.
The measures will make it "an offense to breach authority using mass active or passive resistance against security forces and to include as a crime of assault any threatening or intimidating behavior," he said in Congress.
In addition, attempts to disrupt public services such as transportation would also be made a crime. During the recent general strike picketers blockaded bus and train stations in an attempt to bring transportation to a halt.
Comparisons were drawn with Cuba, where peaceful protesters are routinely rounded up by the communist regime, and with Spain's dark days of the Franco dictatorship, which ended with his death in 1975.
Protests against the reforms of the penal code have already been called for Saturday.
The new measures were announced just days after Felip Puig, the Minister of the Interior of Catalonia's regional government, called for measures to limit "social assemblies". They will be debated in parliament and voted on during the current parliamentary session.
