Spain: comrade Juan Glop released following brutal arrest – the struggle continues!

After being detained for 15 hours, spending the night in a police cell together with common criminals, IMT comrade Juan Glop from Seville was finally released after giving a statement before a judge. The detention of the comrade, coupled with the violent treatment he received at the hands of the police, were a grave injustice that generated a wave of solidarity.

Read the original in Spanish |

Comrade Juan Glop, spokesperson of the Interdistrict Neighbourhood Platform "Barrios Hartos" (Fed Up Neighbourhoods), and member of Lucha de Clases (the Spanish section of the IMT), was arrested Monday afternoon during a neighbourhood demonstration against the exploitative rise in electricity prices and the constant power outages that affect several working-class neighbourhoods in Seville.

More than 100 people went to the central police station in Seville on Monday to demand the release of the comrade, and on Tuesday morning another 100 neighbours and social activists gathered from early in the morning at the Seville courthouse until the release of the comrade around noon. The comrade has been fined 1,000 euros, on the charge of resisting the police. A public campaign will be launched to raise the money to cover this fine.

The comrade showed signs of mistreatment during his arrest, but this has not dented his fighting spirit and morale, which have remained very high throughout these difficult hours.

It is regrettable that the government allows social repression against workers and communities in struggle, giving free rein to police officers to violently repress those at the bottom, while the rich and big businessmen amass fortunes at the same time as the rising prices of basic goods and services further impoverish working families.

They will not break us; on the contrary, they fill us with more determination to continue the struggle. In fact, a mass upsurge is being prepared against the high cost of living and the attempt to make working class families pay for the capitalist crisis. We are already seeing a clear upsurge in the trade union struggle against the bosses' attempts to keep wages down, while prices soar sky high.

We end with the courageous and inspiring testimony of the comrade himself after his release, in this video recorded as he left the courthouse: