Activists confront far-right leader denying gender violence

Feminist activists have confronted a prominent far-right Spanish politician after he called for the country’s gender violence law to be abolished

Feminist activists have confronted a prominent far-right Spanish politician after he called for the country’s gender violence law to be abolished.

At an event at the Madrid city hall activists booed during a speech by Javier Ortega, a city councilor and general secretary of the nationalist-populist Vox party.

Activist Nadia Otmani approached him on her wheelchair and yelled “Respect the dead!”

Monday’s event was held to mark the International Day for Eradication of Gender Violence.

Footage on Spanish public broadcaster TVE showed Otmani, who leads an association supporting migrant women, also accusing Ortega of reaping political gains at the expense of gender violence victims.

The Moroccan-born activist lost mobility in her legs in 1997 when she was shot by her brother-in-law after stepping in to protect her sister from him.