Security Advisor Josu Erkoreka has held a press conference to explain the decree obliging municipal agents to carry firearms, approved by the government at today’s government meeting. But he has also explained other issues, as Naiz and Berria have taken up.

Xuhar, rebound wounded in Tolosa

Erkoreka said Xuhar was “participating” in the incidents that allegedly occurred early in the morning of the carnivals of Tolosa, “next to” those who “threw bottles,” “recording what was happening.” The full phrase was “I was participating in the riots, I wasn’t just by chance there, and I was next to those who were covering their faces and throwing bottles, recording what was going on.” With the launch of foam that hit the eye, he claims to have hit the young man with bounce, after he hit the arm of another young man who participated in the altercations.

These are the main conclusions of the investigation carried out by the Ertzaintza, and the counsellor explained that the report is already in the hands of the Court of Tolosa.

Operation of 3 March “moderate”

Erkoreka also defended the intervention of the Ertzaintza in the demonstration on 3 March, in memory of the Vitoria strikes of 1976. Asked about the infiltrated police seen in the videos that have spread over the network, beaten by his uniformed colleagues, “was well infiltrated.” He has argued that “all democratic policemen use policemen in street clothes” and that it is normal that it has been used in an activity “in which incidents were foreseen”: “It is not new and I do not think anyone is surprised”. He explains that uniformed policemen have to “keep the line” and therefore have limited visibility, and that infiltrates help the police to spread that vision. Of course, he suggests that the infiltrated police was not the only one: “I don’t know who were the infiltrated, not how many were.”

According to Erkoreka, the interventions made by the Ertzaintza in recent times in Tolosa, in the context of football matches or in Vitoria have been criticised by both sides for being excessively humble. However, the counselor has qualified as “moderate” in all Ertzaintza.

“Someone organizes incidents”

Beyond defending the latest operations of the Ertzaintza, the Security Advisor has moved on to the attack. He says that behind the disturbances he has “the suspicion” that there are certain “acronyms,” and that the suspicion is not just his: “I don’t know which, but the whole of Basque society is asking itself.” He hasn't determined what those acronyms are, but he wanted to leave some questions in the air: "This is no coincidence, it's not simply. This happens because someone organizes it. And the question is who is organizing this in different places. Who is now interested in playing a double game: to give a civilized image in the window and to have a post-shop strategy that can erode society”.

Erkoreka has made a closed defense of the Ertzaintza and its activity on Tuesday: “The problem is not the Ertzaintza, but the groups that are going to cause incidents.”