{"id":62884,"date":"2026-07-30T05:14:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T05:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/62884\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T05:14:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T05:14:30","slug":"photojournalist-injured-by-police-while-covering-protest-in-spains-mallorca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/62884\/","title":{"rendered":"Photojournalist injured by police while covering protest in Spain’s Mallorca"},"content":{"rendered":"

Berlin, July 29, 2026\u2014The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Spanish authorities to ensure that police forces guarantee the safety of journalists covering protests after freelance journalist Xavi Hurtado was hit by a police officer<\/a> while covering<\/a> a demonstration in Palma, Mallorca and left needing hospital treatment for a head wound and bruising.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On July 26, Hurtado was documenting<\/a> clashes between Spain\u2019s National Police force and demonstrators following a largely peaceful protest against overtourism on the Mediterranean island. Video<\/a> footage<\/a> from multiple angles, reviewed by CPJ, appears to show Hurtado photographing police as they confronted the protesters and then an officer striking Hurtado<\/a>, who fell to the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2060<\/a>Hurtado \u2060said<\/a> on X that he had needed stitches for a forehead wound and also had bruising to his legs and abdomen. He was treated in hospital before being released later the same day.<\/p>\n

\u201cJournalists in Spain must be able to report on police operations during protests safely and without fear of being assaulted by police,\u201d said Attila Mong, CPJ\u2019s Europe representative. \u201cXavi Hurtado was doing his job when a police officer struck him. Police must not use violence against journalists, and must allow them to document demonstrations, including officers\u2019 use of force, without interference.\u201d<\/p>\n

On July 27,\u00a0 Spain\u2019s government delegate in Mallorca, Alfonso Rodr\u00edguez, said<\/a> the police intervention appeared \u201cexcessive and violent,\u201d adding that some officers seemed to have used force against people who posed no threat. He said he had requested a full report from the National Police to determine responsibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Local media quoted<\/a> police sources as saying police intervened after what they described as a \u201cradical minority\u201d threw stones, bottles, sticks, and other objects at officers. Police said five officers were injured while organizers of the protest said more than 10 demonstrators were injured.<\/p>\n

CPJ emailed Spain\u2019s Ministry of the Interior, which has oversight of the National Police, seeking comment on the incident but did not immediately receive a response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Berlin, July 29, 2026\u2014The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Spanish authorities to ensure that police forces guarantee…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6487,25224,8790,17,25225],"class_list":["post-62884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-attacked","tag-impunity","tag-protests","tag-spain","tag-xavi-hurtado"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}