Police commissioner dismissed for saying some women would like to be raped by Indy Ref riot police
She was participating in a tribute to an officer injured during the riots
BarcelonaEstíbaliz Palma, hitherto chief commissioner of the National Police in Pontevedra, has been dismissed hours after an audio was leaked to eldiario.es in which she is heard saying: "Some women would like to be raped by riot police". She made this comment while talking about the Spanish police's intervention during the 2017 Catalan Independence Referendum, during a lunch in tribute to an officer of the Vigo riot police, forced to retire as a result of the injuries he suffered on when on duty on that day.
Sources from the Ministry of Home Affairs have confirmed the decision by the Directorate General of the Police to dismiss the commissioner, who admitted the veracity of the published audios. In this intervention, Palma reflects on the criticism received by the police performance in Catalonia and regrets that the days before and after the referendum there were "48 hours in which it seemed that the National Police had been transformed and, suddenly, raped, mistreated and did I don't know how many other things". At this point, she concludes: "Some women would like to be raped by riot police", to the laughter of the attendees. A voice is heard saying "Cut this", addressing those who were recording the speech on their phones.
During the Independence referendum, Palma was a police commissioner at the Madrid town of Pozuelo de Alarcón. She says it is a "fantastic" place to give talks as a police officer, but in those days, however, she explains how her children had come to ask her: "Mum, what do the police do in Catalonia?", after seeing on social media the images and videos of police hitting voters with batons. It is after this that Palma starts talking about Catalan women, rape and riot police.
After praising the retiring policeman's partner, Palma vents: "There is a saying that behind a great man there is a good woman; from now on it will probably be behind a good woman there is a good man. Or another woman, or a fluid. Or something", the police leader adds amidst the laughter of her colleagues and comments mocking inclusive language.
