Editorial: El País

• The government is attempting to reform the Citizen Security Law, a controversial rule known as the 'gag law', created in 2015 to penalize dissent and citizen protests.
• Despite the intentions of the opposition to repeal it over the past nine years, disagreements among left-wing parties and early elections have frustrated efforts.
• The current law allows high fines for participants and organizers of unnotified protests, and confers a high degree of discretion to security forces.
• Amnesty International and the Ombudsman have criticized the law, citing examples of how it criminalizes protest and have called for its reform.
• Proposed changes include a review of the uses of rubber bullets by riot forces and hot returns.

Conclusion: Despite the remaining discrepancies, reformers should remember that partial reform is preferable to the absence of reform, given the law's restrictive effect on citizen protest and freedom of speech.

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