Barcelona Police Officer Suspended for Refusing to Speak Catalan

The Barcelona City Council has suspended a Guardia Urbana officer for 24 days without pay following an incident in which he refused to address a citizen in Catalan. The disciplinary action, which includes a loss of salary, was initiated after the advocacy group Plataforma per la Llengua filed a formal complaint supported by video evidence of the encounter.

The incident occurred on July 13, 2025, on the Rambla Prim in Barcelona. According to reports, the officer and his colleagues stopped a woman who was attempting to enter an area restricted to traffic. When the woman requested that the officers communicate with her in Catalan, the officer refused and reportedly labeled her request as "fascist" and "totalitarian." During the interaction, the officer stated, "It is very fascist to force people to speak in what they do not want to."

The City Council’s internal investigation, conducted by the Deontology and Internal Affairs Unit, concluded that the officer’s conduct constituted "serious negligence" in the performance of his duties. Officials determined that the officer’s behavior was incompatible with the professional standards of respect and courtesy required of the police force. The municipal government emphasized that this decision remains subject to potential appeals.

Under Barcelona's municipal regulations, city employees are required to initiate interactions with the public in Catalan and adapt to the language preferred by the citizen. Furthermore, Article 33 of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia guarantees the right of citizens to interact with public administrations in the Catalan language. The City Council has reiterated its commitment to these linguistic rights and has reminded the Guardia Urbana leadership that Catalan should be the primary language used in initial verbal interactions with the public.

The situation remains legally complex, as the police intervention also resulted in an administrative fine against the citizen for allegedly "scolding and disparaging" the officers. Plataforma per la Llengua, which is providing legal defense for the woman, argues that the police report inaccurately describes her actions, asserting that she was merely attempting to exercise her linguistic rights. The case has now been moved to the administrative courts to challenge the fine.

This case is not an isolated incident according to data provided by Plataforma per la Llengua. The organization reports that it has documented numerous complaints regarding linguistic discrimination by law enforcement agencies in the region. Since 2021, the Mossos d'Esquadra have faced 40 such complaints, while the Guardia Urbana of Barcelona has been the subject of 33. In a previous 2021 case, a citizen who complained about an officer's refusal to speak Catalan was fined under the national public security law, an action the advocacy group described as retaliatory.