The PP urges the Government to grant Spanish military personnel the status of “agents of authority” so that they can act in Ceuta like the National Police and the Civil Guard and assume functions to preserve citizen security and prevent both outbreaks of violence and the commission of crimes.
This has been demanded by party spokespeople such as Ester Muñoz or Borja Sémper in different statements to the media and the parliamentary group in Congress through two non-legislative proposals for debate in the Plenary and in the Defense Commission.
The PP appeals for the Government to make use of the assumptions contemplated by the National Defense Law and other legislation in the legal system so that members of the Armed Forces can temporarily assume security functions and thus support the National Police and the Civil Guard in surveillance and protection tasks to guarantee citizen welfare.
The PP spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, who already demanded this from the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, during her extraordinary appearance last Tuesday, emphasized that “there is legal regulation that would allow the military to be agents of authority, have clear orders, and have a legal framework that also protects their physical integrity.”
The military deployed in Ceuta, Muñoz explained in Bilbao, are carrying out “logistical and observation tasks,” but “cannot intervene” in the face of attacks on citizens, military personnel, civil guards, or national police officers, despite being there to defend the people of Ceuta.
For his part, Sémper has demanded that “public order must prevail again in Ceuta.” “The State Security Forces and Corps and the Army must be able to defend the people of Ceuta and any other citizen, wherever they come from, from the possible commission of crimes and prevent any harm,” he said in statements in Congress.
The PP believes that this reinforcement in security will also help control the outbreaks of violence that have arisen in recent days around immigrants and would offer the people of Ceuta relief from the feeling of insecurity.
“Of course, we are always against violence,” she said, which she sees as “compatible” with also being against an “incapable and ineffective” Government. “We are very concerned that the citizens of Ceuta feel unprotected. And to prevent this from happening, the State must react. The State Security Forces and Corps must have resources and the Army must be able to act,” she said.
Also to “defend themselves,” she insisted, after a vehicle of the Army was attacked with stones in which four soldiers were injured. Twelve migrants have been arrested. “The Minister of Defense laughed on Tuesday when I told her. Today we have seen those attacks on the soldiers who are there defending the people of Ceuta, who are defending order there and do so without having the necessary means,” Muñoz criticized.
Likewise, Sémper warned that the State is not “responding” to the seriousness of the situation and lamented that the feeling that it is “incapable” of resolving the crisis is taking hold.
For this reason, he pointed out that people should not be “pointed at” for their expressions of indignation, as have been seen in recent hours, but rather look at those who govern and are not providing solutions. “People must be able to trust their institutions and their rulers but the reality is that today they do not trust and that is a real problem.”
