The events date back to October 18, 2019, during secessionist protests in Barcelona's Urquinaona Square, called by the Tsunami Democràtic platform. One officer suffered a traumatic brain injury after a cobblestone hit his helmet, rendering him unconscious and requiring admission to the ICU. The other officer sustained a severe arm fracture, also due to the impact of a blunt object.
The appeals have been filed before the administrative contentious chamber of the Audiencia Nacional, after the Ministry of Interior rejected the request for recognition as victims of terrorism in February. The General Directorate for Support to Victims of Terrorism argued that the terrorist nature of the events and their authorship had not been proven.
The officers' lawyers argue that both the prosecutor and the judge in the Tsunami case, as well as the Guardia Civil in their reports, did find evidence of terrorism in the events. The violence of those days also caused significant damage to urban furniture in central Barcelona.
“"There were so many hostile people that there wasn't time to repel so many. I believe what they wanted that day was to see a police officer dead."
According to testimonies from the officers themselves, protesters threw cobblestones, stones, metal petanque balls, flares, Molotov cocktails, acid, and metallic material at the police.
