Protesters gather as Spain “gag law” goes into effect News
Protesters gather as Spain “gag law” goes into effect

[JURIST] Thousands gathered across Spain on Tuesday to protest Spain’s new public security law that went into effect on Wednesday. The Citizen Security Law [text, in Spanish], labeled as a “gag law” by protesters, sets fines for burning the national flag, protesting outside of parliament buildings, and distributing photographs of police officers that could threaten their operations. The protesters gathered [El País report] in a number of cities, including Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Almeria, Granada and Valencia, and faced fines if they were determined to have been “disturbing the peace.”

In February, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] urged [JURIST report] Spanish authorities to reject the law. Earlier that month, Amnesty International [advocacy website] warned [JURIST report] that separate proposed anti-terrorism measures would violate citizen’s rights. Protesters also gathered to oppose the law [JURIST report] when it was being considered in December.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.