Women in Spain are holding mass protests calling for Spain’s football president to resign after he kissed a woman player without consent.
Spain Women’s National Football Team supporters stage a protest in solidarity with the football player Jenni Hermoso after Luis Rubiales, head of Spain’s football federation, kissed the player without consent the night the team won the FIFA World Cup, at Callao square in Madrid, Spain on August 28, 2023. (Photo by Ana Beltran/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Protesters march during a demonstration called by feminist associations in support to Spain’s player Jenni Hermoso, at Callao square in Madrid on August 28, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Aldara Zarraoa/Getty Images)
Rubiales appeared to downplay the incident, saying, “Is it so serious that I need to leave having done the best management in the history of Spanish football?”
Protesters during a demonstration called by feminist associations in support to Spain’s player Jenni Hermoso, at Callao square in Madrid on August 28, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Aldara Zarraoa/Getty Images)
“I will not resign,” he said almost five times among cheers of a mainly male audience.
Protesters march during a demonstration called by feminist associations in support to Spain’s player Jenni Hermoso, at Callao square in Madrid on August 28, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Aldara Zarraoa/Getty Images)
On Saturday, Hermoso issued a statement, saying that she had given no consent.
“I felt vulnerable and a victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out of place act without any consent on my part,” she wrote on her social media. “Simply put, I was not respected.”
However, people felt that this was not enough and took to the streets in a huge protest on Monday Aug. 28 to call for Rubiales to resign and in solidarity with Hermoso and Spain’s Women’s National Football team.
Crowds of protesters gather at Plaza de Callao in Madrid during a demonstration to support soccer star Jenni Hermoso, who was kissed on the lips by by Luis Rubiales after Spain’s women’s team won the World Cup.(Photo by David Canales/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
In the video, they can be heard chanting “champions, champions” in Spanish while holding signs such as “Se Acabó (It’s over)”, “Contigo Jenni (With you Hermoso)”, and “Rubiales Fuera de Juego (Rubiales Out)”.
A protesters holds a placard during a demonstration called by feminist associations in support to Spain’s player Jenni Hermoso, at Callao square in Madrid on August 28, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Aldara Zarraoa/Getty Images)
Protesters chanted, “Champions, champions” and held signs reading, “It’s over”, “With you Hermoso”, and “Rubiales Out”.
Dozens of people protest with placards during a demonstration against Rubiales, at Puerta del Sol, on September 1, 2023, in Madrid, Spain. (Photo By Alejandro Martinez Velez/Europa Press via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Rubiales’ mom was sent to the hospital after a three-day hunger strike to protest what she called the “inhumane hunt” against her son.
Angeles Bejar, mother of Luis Rubiales, the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation locked in the church on hunger strike. (Photo By Alex Camara/Europa Press via Getty Images)
She had locked herself in a church in her hometown but ended up in the hospital because she was “in bad health”.
Angeles Bejar, mother of Luis Rubiales, with her son, the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation. (Photo By Alex Camara/Europa Press via Getty Images)
She said she wouldn’t mind dying on a hunger strike for justice because her son is a decent person, the Telegraph reported.
A protester gestures with her hands during a demonstration called by feminist associations in support of the Spanish midfielder Jenni Hermoso. (Photo by Luis Soto/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Spain’s Football Federation has yet to decide what to do after Rubiales’ 90-day suspension.
