Policeman Pursues PP Politician

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Source: Wikipedia (PP Comunidad de Madrid)

“The law is the same for everyone,” says Madrid mayor about Aguirre incident

Members of the governing Popular Party (PP) have been less than impressed by the behavior of former Madrid premier Esperanza Aguirre, after she fled from traffic police before they could finish giving her a ticket for parking her car in a bus lane on the capital’s Gran Vía on Thursday afternoon.

The veteran politician has strongly criticized the officers who stopped her on Thursday, accusing them of being “sexist” and claiming that all they were interested in was enabling someone to take a photo of the incident in order to make her look bad.

Aguirre, who is the head of the PP in the Madrid region, was being talked about as a possible candidate to run as the city's mayor, replacing current incumbent Ana Botella. And it is, in fact, Botella who has so far been the most openly vocal in her criticism of the behavior of Aguirre, who knocked over a police scooter as she fled the scene, and refused to stop her car, despite being pursued by several officers in their vehicles. 


Aguirre’s explanations 

“I stopped behind a taxi that was letting out a passenger,” Aguirre told the press after the incident. “I turned on the emergency lights for a minute and when I returned the traffic officer was there. The thing is, when I said that I was going, after having been there for more than a quarter of an hour, my car is much bigger than a normal one so that my grandchildren can get in it, and it hit the motor scooter, which was badly parked, but I didn’t run anyone over. What they wanted to do was to keep me there and cause a big fuss to cause trouble for me. The traffic police cannot hold a celebrity, especially someone like me. And when you’re a woman… I won’t even go there,” she said, in reference to her claims that the officers were sexist. 

“They were banking that someone on the street, in the middle of Callao square, would take a photo, and that way the media would end up with it and cause trouble. And that’s why I left, to avoid them getting that photo.”
 

“The law is the same for everyone,” Botella told the press upon her arrival at a PP rally in Valencia on Friday. The mayor declined to give her version of events, nor would she be drawn on whether or not Aguirre was illegally detained, as the latter has claimed. “That’s not for me to comment on,” she told reporters. “I insist, though, the law is the same for everyone and the statements made by the officers should be presumed to be true.” 

After the weekly Cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría was asked by reporters for her opinion on the incident. “Esperanza Aguirre has given explanations, there is a procedure in motion, the law is the same for everyone, and the facts and responsibilities will have to be cleared up,” she said. 

On Thursday evening the Madrid City Council defended the actions of the officers involved, saying they had followed procedure and treat all citizens the same. 

Meanwhile, during a late-night session of the city’s assembly on Thursday, deputies were heard to be saying: “If there is anyone capable of turning this around, it’s Esperanza.” 

Aguirre has been publicly backed by the communication secretary of the Madrid branch of the PP, Lucía Figar, who is also the education chief in the regional government and a dedicated supporter of Aguirre, having known her all her life. Figar pointed out that traffic officers are there to “monitor and control traffic,” and as such do not have powers to detain citizens. 

“For 20 minutes, they detained a person who had already been fined and had handed over all of the pertinent documents, all of which were in order,” she said 
 
 
  
Vocabulary:

a mayor -

behaviour -

former -
to flee (fled, fled) -
a bus lane -
claim (v,n) -
to enable -

in order to (= so that...) -

an incumbent -

to knock over sb/sth -
to pursue -
to let sb out (of a car) -

to turn on (the lights) -

a scooter -

to run sb over -

a fuss - 
to hold sb (police) -

to bank -

to end up -
upon her arrival -

to be drawn on sth -

a citizen -
to turn stg around -

to back sb -

a branch -

a supporter -

to point out -

to fine -
to hand sth over -



What is your opinion on the incident?


Comments

Roberto said…
I´ve read the post. No comments!.
Tuesday, 08 April, 2014
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