Staff Reporter
THIS is the woman who brazenly took on Spanish police protestors after an off-duty cop kicked her in the stomach during a protest at the Gibraltar border.
The shocking footage of the incident has sparked outrage, as Erika Gonzalez, 35, is seen driving a red Mercedes before her car is surrounded by protestors waving their flags at her windows and kicking her tyres.
The trained nurse can be seen exiting the car and approaches the group of protestors before a scuffle unfolds.
It was then that she was brutally kicked in the stomach by an off-duty Spanish police officer.
Witnesses claim she was called ‘puta’, or whore, before she was escorted back into her car.
It is believed the mother had a child in the back of the car.
She told the Gibraltar Chronicle: “I was trembling, I was shaking, and felt like I was cornered.
“It was crazy.”
It comes after Jusapol police union protestors marched to the Gibraltar border from La Linea, demanding pay increases after what they described as ‘30 years of abandonment’.
Following the incident, Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo has met with Gonzalez and to hear her side of the story.
The Gibraltarian explained how she was first ‘verbally abused’ and had her car damaged by protestors as she was crossing the border.
Gonzalez said she had been ‘physically assaulted’ by two men after she confronted them.
Picardo said: “I am very grateful that Ms Gonzalez was able to come to No6 to explain exactly what happened yesterday.
“I was able to express to her my anger and regret at the way in which she was attacked and I was also able to pledge the government’s full support in any issues which arise from this deplorable and regrettable incident.”
A representative of the Spanish government in Cadiz has today revealed that permission was granted for officers to protest, on the ‘condition the protestors did not interfere with
pedestrians or vehicles crossing into Gibraltar.’
He has apologised to all those who were involved in the incidents.
