THE editor of a satirical magazine will appear in court after publishing an article making fun of Spain's police force.
The article took aim at the police officers involved in the brutal crackdown on Catalan voters, implying that the force's heavy handed approach to the referendum may have had something to do with them snorting the region’s entire supply of cocaine.
The article published in El Jueves, titled "The continuing presence of riot police exhausts Catalonia’s cocaine reserves – Colombian cartels have warned they can’t keep up with such high demand" led to police unions claiming that the story was potentially defamatory.
Editor Guillermo Martínez-Vela must now attend a court summons after an official complaint was lodged with prosecutors.
The satirical article included quotes from a fictional drug dealer who said: "I haven’t got a gram left, mate. No speed either. They’ve had it all. And you can’t sell this lot any old s**t – they’re professional junkies!"
The article also claimed that the Spanish interior minister was concerned that officers could turn to MDMA if their cocaine supplies dried up, adding that it would be harder to maintain order if officers were too busy "stroking their own bodies".
Martínez-Vela told The Guardian that the article was shared many times in Spain, potentially reaching a new audience who may not have understood the magazine's satirical nature.
He added: "It seems that those who were most shocked were a bunch of police unions, who pushed for a complaint to be filed – and then one was.
"We’ve been doing this for more than 40 years at El Jueves. We mix humour with current events and everything we do is fiction: we take elements of the news to make up funny fiction."
The article was retweeted almost 15,000, and even caught the eye of the national police force who stated that, while they respected freedom of expression, this article had gone too far.
The United Police Union said they were pursuing legal action due to the timing of the publication, just days after the Catalonian referendum.
The article coinicided with the police facing international backlash from the violent tactics they used to supress voting. The union claim that the article could contribute to the police facing intimidation following their actions.
Martínez-Vela will appear in court today.
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