The image of the chief of the Municipal Police of Estella/Lizarra forcibly removing a councilwoman from the municipal balcony after displaying an ikurriña has caused perplexity and considerable controversy. In a video, broadcast by Diario de Noticias de Navarra, you can see how the agent grabs the mayor from behind when he greeted from the balcony, with an ikurriña in his hand, and forcibly introduces her into a room in the House Consistorial. Inside, without further explanation, he lets the young woman go, since, logically, she has not committed any crime.
The events took place during the beginning of the festivities in this Navarrese town of 14,000 inhabitants, governed until June by EH Bildu and now in the hands of UPN. After the chupinazo, the councilors of each municipal group have the opportunity to launch festive rockets.
When her turn has come, Elizabeth Ciordia, councilor for EH Bildu who is opening this legislature, has entered the municipal balcony with an ikurriña in her hand. Once on the balcony, she greeted her acquaintances and the audience that was there waving an ikurriña. It was at that moment when the head of the Municipal Police, Rodrigo García de Galdiano, broke into the balcony and took the mayor by force. He first tried to do it by surrounding him by the neck and, finally, he did it by grabbing his back and torso. Ciordia has stated after her that she has caused him “a lot of damage” and she has censured the attitude of the head of the municipal authorities.
García de Galdiano was appointed chief of the Municipal Police a month ago, once UPN became Mayor of Estella thanks to the seven UPN councillors, the support of the PP mayor and the abstention of the PSOE. EH Bildu, the second force in the municipality, went over to the opposition at that time.
The current head of the Municipal Police already held the position before, until in March 2020 EH Bildu replaced him with another agent. Since 2015, the Abertzale coalition and the Navarrese right have been taking turns in power in the Navarrese town: EH Bildu governed from 2015 to 2019; Navarra Suma (UPN, PP and C’s) did it from June 2019 to March 2020; EH Bildu resumed power in the spring of 2020 until June of this year; and for almost two months he has ruled UPN again.
The regionalist formation flatly rejects that the ikurriña, which came to be officially displayed both in the Pamplona City Council and in many Navarrese towns, can be exhibited in the town halls of the foral community.
In fact, this formation promoted a Law on Symbols in 2003 to prohibit its exhibition, usual until then in many consistories. This norm was repealed in 2017 by the parties that supported the Uxue Barkos government, although in 2020 the PSOE and UPN joined their votes to approve a new Law of Symbols that, de facto, prevented the official display of the ikurriña in the municipal balconies. On the opposite side, EH Bildu, the Basque coalition Geroa Bai and Izquierda-Ezkerra (Podemos, IU and Batzarrre) bet on an integrating norm of the Navarrese plurality.
In any case, the episode of the councilor Elizabeth Ciordia this Friday has nothing to do with an official exhibition, on the masts of the City Hall; For this reason, the police action has caused perplexity and indignation.
