The following day, four of the five young people detained in New Year’s Eve were released. The trial for these events was held in July 2020 and was sentenced to an economic fine of almost EUR 10,000 in total. The fifth young man, who served almost a year in Zaballa prison, has been tried this week.

The young man has reached an agreement with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, according to Hala Bedi on Twitter. The 26-year-old has been sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for an attack on an agent of the authority, two injuries crimes for EUR 360 and two policemen for EUR 396 of compensation. Hala Bedi has pointed out that the request of the Office of the Prosecutor, both criminal and economic, was considerably higher than the previous one.

2019 incidents

On 1 January 2019, around 9:00 in the morning, there were serious incidents outside the gaztetxe in Vitoria-Gasteiz between several people and police who were in a festive atmosphere during the celebrations in New Year’s Eve. Agents of the Ertzaintza and the Municipal Police participated in the incidents, but the Municipal Police was their main protagonist. According to the agents' version, they approached gaztetxe due to excessive noise and the young people who were in the place hurled over them. Gazte Asanblada recognized that music was used that night higher than necessary and apologized to the neighbors, but blamed the incidents to the Municipal Police, denouncing that noise was an excuse: “Its intention has been clear: to criminalize the popular movement and occupation, mediatizing and magnifying a certain moment of celebration.” They explained that the Municipal Police officers entered suddenly, “without warning” and “very aggressively” in the gaztetxe.