Moment riot policeman shoves retired teacher, 68, to the ground at Spanish protest, sparking internal probe

Crime

The unnamed officer faces disciplinary action after the pensioner was left covered in blood and needing 12 stitches during a teachers' strike in Valencia.

Gerard Couzens / Dilip Kuner

This is the moment a Spanish riot policeman pushed a female pensioner to the ground during a street protest in Spain.

The victim, a 68-year-old retired teacher, had her back to the police officer when she was assaulted, smashing her face onto the road as she went down.

The incident happened around 8pm on Sunday during a demonstration near the Regional Ministry of Education headquarters in Valencia. Teachers in the region have been staging an indefinite strike to demand better pay, conditions, and resources for public schools.

Footage of the assault sparked immediate outrage. Fellow protestors rushed to the woman's aid, fiercely rebuking the burly policeman - who was wearing a protective helmet and brandishing a long truncheon. One witness was overheard shouting: “Is that possible and necessary?” while others yelled insults at the officer.

The unnamed officer appeared to make no attempt to help his victim, continuing his focus on clearing the road for traffic while Good Samaritans picked the bleeding pensioner up and helped her to the hospital.

A nephew of the injured woman revealed she required 12 stitches to a severe chin wound and confirmed the family has filed a formal complaint.

Witness Ruben Navas, a representative for the regional teachers’ union STEPV, described the attack as entirely unprovoked. “We were peacefully forming a human chain and people had occupied Valencia’s Pio XII Avenue,” Navas said. “The police started to clear the area and told us that we couldn't be there. They gave the woman an unprovoked shove.

“There was a disproportionate attack from behind on a person who was voluntarily moving away. She fell flat on her face and had blood all over her nose and chin.”

The fallout from the video was swift. Spain's National Police have launched official disciplinary proceedings against the officer. Sources from the Government Delegation in the Comunitat confirmed an internal investigation has been opened into the officer's conduct.

Pilar Bernabé, the central government representative for the Valencia region, strongly condemned the officer's actions. Writing on X, she said: “The image we have seen is unacceptable. We are going to thoroughly investigate what happened in order to determine responsibility.

“Protecting the right to demonstrate safely takes precedence over any circumstance. This is a completely incomprehensible incident that tarnishes the work of the police during these three weeks of demonstrations.”

On Monday morning, Bernabé and Valencia’s sub-delegate, José Rodríguez Jurado, held an emergency meeting with the main unions leading the strike - STEPV, CCOO, and UGT. Government sources stated the meeting was used to review the otherwise "joint and coordinated" safety efforts managed over the past three weeks. Both sides pledged to continue working together to ensure no further violence mars the strikes and to fully guarantee the constitutional right to protest.

Despite the backlash and calls from left-wing MP Ione Belarra for the officer to be immediately suspended, police union sources have rallied to his defence.

A spokesman for the Federal Police Union argued that the action was a necessary measure to prevent public roads from being blocked. “The aim was to prevent that initial moment of occupation of the public roadway. Action must be taken quickly, with minimal force but with determination.”

Another police union source told Sur In English sister newspaper Las Provincias: “If you go out to block streets, you expose yourself to being removed from them.”

The investigating judge in Valencia is expected to review the formal complaint filed by the victim's family alongside the police internal report.