Curfew “has no health reasons”: rejected by the Spanish court

There will be no more curfews for Barcelona. The decision was made by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, which rejected the government’s request to extend the order even for areas with less than a minimum incidence.

The news itself would not have caught the attention of the entire Iberian press had it not been for the sharp criticism of the government by the Court of Justice.

In fact, the words spread in all Spanish newspapers and tabloids, especially Catalan. According to the same court and under these circumstances, The curfew was not intended to reduce infection, so there was no reason to exist.

Let’s see in detail what happened.

Stop the curfew

From tomorrow onwards ban They will not be needed in Barcelona and other locations in northeastern Spain. In fact, the Catalan court approved only 19 of the 148 municipalities submitted by the government in requesting the extension of restrictions to combat the spread of Covid-19.

The request also included extending the curfew to the areas in which it occurs less than 250 Cases were diagnosed per 100,000 residents.

It is precisely for these municipalities that the court decided to reject the application. Hourly night travel restrictions will only apply in municipalities with a cumulative infection rate Superior to 250 cases per 100,000 residents, as previously determined.

Then the court wanted to state the reasons for this choice: The measure does not respond to the need to contain the epidemic, but for those of security or public order only.

Justices of the Peace: There are no grounds for a curfew

Of the same opinion judges who believe that generalities (The Catalan government) does not impose a curfew according to the criteria for containing the epidemic.

The measures proposed are justified not so much for reasons of health as for reasons of security or public order, which must be taken care of by the exercise of the ordinary powers of the administration itself.

With these words, the judges make it clear that such measures, which limit personal freedom of movement, are totally unacceptable.

Curfew: Improving the health situation

Catalonia remains one of the regions worst affected by the fourth wave in the Iberian Peninsula, mainly due to the delta variant that has caused an increase in infections in all countries.

A curfew has been in effect for several weeks in more than 100 Catalan municipalities, banning night travel and commuting fromone at six From the morning.

And the last time it was decided to extend the restrictions, last August 5, the authorities proposed changing the standard by which a municipality could be classified as “high risk”.

Indeed, thanks to the apparent improvement in the health situation, the regional government decided to lower the infection threshold needed to justify the extension of the curfew.

The restrictions will only apply if the municipality has had a cumulative rate of new cases, in the past seven days, equal to more than 250 per 100,000 inhabitants, no more than 400 per 100,000.

However, despite what was passed, according to the general, even municipalities “not at great risk” had to maintain curfews, a more than obvious step to prevent travel and control nightlife.

And this explains what the court decided: the government continued to propose and extend a curfew that did not exist “Health reasons».