Excerpts from: http://revolution-news.com/spain-congress-passes-draconian-gag-law/
Spanish Congress approved the restrictive Citizen Safety Law or ‘Gag Law’ today, which now goes to the Senate for final approval. All parliamentary groups except the Partido Popular (PP) oppose the law but PP holds the majority in both the Congress & Senate so the law is expected to pass with flying colors.
Some of the most controversial aspects of the Ley Mordaza include:
1. Photographing or recording police – 600 to 30.000€ fine.
2. Peaceful disobedience to authority – 600 to 30.000€ fine.
3. Occupying banks as means of protest – 600 to 30.000€ fine.
4. Not formalizing a protest – 600 to 30.000€ fine.
5. For carrying out assemblies or meetings in public spaces – 100 to 600€ fine.
6. For impeding or stopping an eviction – 600 to 30.000€ fine.
7. For presence at an occupied space (not only social centers but also houses occupied by evicted families) – 100 to 600€ fine.
8. Police black lists for protesters, activists and alternative press have been legalized.
9. Meeting or gathering in front of Congress – 600 to 30.000€ fine.
10. Appealing the fines in court requires the payment of judicial costs, whose amount depends on the fine.
11. It allows random identity checks, allowing for racial profiling of immigrants and minorities.
12. Police can now carry out raids at their discretion, without the need for “order” to have been disrupted.
13. External bodily searches are also now allowed at police discretion.
14. The government can prohibit any protest at will, if it feels “order” will be disrupted.
15. Any ill-defined “critical infrastructure” is now considered a forbidden zone for public gatherings if it might affect their functioning.
16. There are also fines for people who climb buildings and monuments without permission. (This has been a common method of protest from organizations like Greenpeace.)
Some parts of this 'anti-protest' legislation can be found in many other parts of Europe but this list certainly look more comprehensive than most. Of course the existance of more 'liberal' legislation guaranteeing so-called human rights doesn't necessarily stop such abuse in practice when the bosses and their state are threatended in any serious way, and equally the existance of more draconian laws as proposed in this Spanish case does not guarantee their implementation if ignored or opposed by enough people, but they are clearly intended to try and scare some off. It could equally be that some of the more 'liberal' opponents might contrarily be drawn in against the government by such 'illiberal' measures. It would be helpful to keep track of this law and attempts to enforce it.