Defender a quien Defiende presents its annual report on the state of the right to protest in Spain, confirming a worrying intensification of repression. In 2025, 380 cases were documented, involving 1,956 rights violations and 1,771 affected individuals — an increase of 66.7% compared to the previous year.
The report finds that this increase is driven both by a rise in social mobilisation and by a hardening of the repressive response, which has grown not only in number but also in intensity. In this context, protests in solidarity with Palestine once again emerge as the most affected area, accounting for nearly a quarter of all documented cases.
They are followed by mobilisations around housing and squatting, as well as the antifascist movement, which for the first time ranks among the most affected areas. Together, these three account for close to 60% of the cases recorded in 2025.
The report also identifies a shift in the forms of repression, with an increase in more severe interventions. Detentions and violations of physical and moral integrity stand out in particular, affecting a significant number of individuals and pointing to a more intensive use of force.
It also confirms the consolidation of different repressive pathways (criminal, administrative and police) within a decade marked by the enforcement of the so-called “gag laws”, which have contributed to a regression in rights and freedoms.
The report further warns of the continued and increasingly sophisticated use of practices such as police infiltration, disproportionate use of force and the expansion of surveillance technologies in public space, reinforcing a broader trend of control and restriction of the right to protest.
Full report available here.
