Who will guard the guardians?
The week's news at a glance.
Spain
Martin Dahms
Frankfurter Rundschau (Germany)
Spain has a serious problem with police brutality, said Martin Dahms in Germany’s Frankfurter Rundschau. The latest victim was a farmer who rushed into a police station in the resort town of Roquetas de Mar and asked for help. Juan Martínez Galdeano, 39, said he’d just been in a car accident and the men in the other car were chasing him. Instead of taking his statement, the cops tried to give him a Breathalyzer test, and an agitated Martínez began flailing. That’s when the beating started. Even after Martínez lay motionless on the station floor, “the officers kicked him like a dog.” They were “drunk with power, drunk with violence.” It was just another day at work for Spanish police—only this time, the victim died. Interior Minister José Antonio Alonso called the episode “a tragic exception” to the normally professional routine. If only that were true. Official statistics show that over the last four years, there’s been at least one complaint about excessive violence by Spanish police almost every day. “If such a culture does not change, there will soon be another death to regret.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
October 19 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's editorial cartoons include Pete Hegseth and the press, an absence of government, and George Washington crossing the Delaware
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelago
The Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
AI: is the bubble about to burst?
In the Spotlight Stock market ever-more reliant on tech stocks whose value relies on assumptions of continued growth and easy financing