Barcelona
BarcelonaFlash90

The Barcelona prosecutor’s office has recommended to a court that a right wing extremist be sentenced to three years in prison for antisemitic chants.

The Hate Crimes Service of the Barcelona Provincial Prosecutor’s Office urged the judge to sentence the defendant to the jail term and also fine him 3,600 euros on charges of breaching fundamental rights and public freedoms through antisemitism

The defendant was a participants in protests on October 12, 2021 that were organized by extreme right wing groups, a march that occurs every year and ends on Montjuic (the “Mountain of the Jews”), El Mundo reported.

The indictment said that the defendant was “motivated by his animosity towards Jews and their nation Israel.”

During the protest, he “began to repeatedly and loudly utter antisemitic chants that clearly and distinctly instigated feelings of violence among the attendees, hatred or hostility against the Jewish community with expressions such as ‘Death to Jews’, ‘Kill Jews’ and ‘Death to Israel,’ with an unspecified number of attendees who were younger than the defendant and who could not be identified by the police.”

The prosecutor’s office said that the defendant was guilty of the offense because he encouraged others in attendance to promote hatred against the Jewish community.

The March, which took place in Barcelona on Columbus Day, involved extreme right wing “participants [who] take advantage of the occasion to make proclamations in favour of the unity of Spain and to point out the alleged ‘enemies’ of this unity” with calls to “sacrifice” using all necessary means to defend the “Spanish nation.”

The rally has become known for promoting symbols connected to far right nationalist groups, including organizations tied to the Franco regime.