Catalan teacher arrested for criticizing Spain's Guardia Civil online

The Spanish Guardia Civil has arrested a Catalan teacher for publishing hate speech on social networks, according to digital media outlet Pallars Digital.

Manel Riu, the detained teacher, explained that three Guardia Civil agents came to look for him in the morning at the institute where he teaches, but found he was not there. They then went to his house and ordered him to accompany him to nearby police barracks.

Once he was there, they said he had been arrested for publishing hate speech online, without specifying which were the incriminating tweets, according to the teacher. He said the case against him was “generic.”

“Which tweets, which facebook posts, I do not know,” he tweeted after his release, adding that “the accusation is incitation of hate, I suppose hate against the Guardia Civil.”

Riu exercised his right to remain silent, and has been released after signing documents alongside his lawyer. He is waiting to be summoned by a judge.

“No aggression against the Guardia Civil and the National Police, no violence; But let's make them realize that they are neither welcome nor loved,” Riu wrote on October 3 via his Twitter account. “Let us peacefully make life impossible until they leave Catalonia.On October 3, Riu published.”

He confirmed that he has criticized the Spanish government and security forces in some of his online publications. In some cases he used obscene language, specifically against Spanish politicians, and in one Tweet he called Spanish police “orangutans.”

“They behaved in a wild, inhuman manner,” he tweeted in response to the “level of violence” exhibited by them on the day of the referendum. “I have said it,” he added, “as many people have said it.”