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Melchor Sáiz-Pardo
Madrid
Tuesday, 6 June 2023
A policeman has been cleared of squeezing a female activist’s breasts during a rally in Madrid last year.
The 11th Court of Instruction of Madrid dismissed the case against the officer who had been charged after being accused of touching the breasts of a Femen activist. Magistrate Juan Javier Pérez Pérez ruled that the contact came as a result of the woman's resistance.
The incident happened on 20 November 2022 in the Plaza de Oriente in Madrid after the Spanish Catholic movement organised a rally on the anniversary of the death of Francisco Franco.
Three women, with their breasts uncovered, protested with the shouts; "no honour, no glory to fascism". According to the complaint, when the activists took off their coats "several policemen, all men, arrived to meet them" and, while some of them proceeded to arrest two of the women "with obvious professionalism", another officer grabbed the complainant from behind "squeezing her breasts with both hands” for 30 seconds.
The officer told the court the contact with the woman lasted less than ten seconds and that the woman’s resistance was so strong he needed the help of another policeman.
The police officer's version was supported by a photograph taken by a journalist from the EFE news agency, which clearly showed what had happened.
The photojournalist stated that two officers had to restrain the woman and that she did resist, even elbowing one of the officer’s in the stomach.
"It can be seen that the accused officer was holding the complainant from behind, with contact between the officer's hands and the complainant's breasts, but also other contact between the officer's hands and the shoulders and other parts of the complainant's body, contact that is not suspicious of a sexual motive,” the judge ruled.
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