The graffiti soon became the backdrop for television crews as they descended on the city as news broke that the embattled football chief's mother, Ángeles Béjar, had shut herself into a 19th century church and declared she was on hunger strike over the "unwarranted, inhumane and bloodthirsty hunt" of her son.
The unexpected turn of events seemingly turned Motril - a southern Spanish city of 59,000 where Rubiales's father was mayor for eight years - into the last bastion of public support for a man who was once among the most powerful in European football.
On Monday evening, a few dozen of Rubiales's friends, family and supporters gathered outside the former convent where his mother was camped out, waving placards that decried what they saw as Rubiales's persecution. The focus was on the kiss - "We are talking about a little kiss, he didn't kill anyone," a resident, Amparo Macias, told Reuters - rather than Rubiales grabbing his crotch as the women's team won the World Cup.
The small gathering was eclipsed by the global momentum for what has seemingly become a turning point in Spain. On Monday hundreds packed into a central Madrid plaza, their chants of se acabó, or "it's over", aimed as much at Rubiales's presidency as at female football's long-running struggle to be treated on a par with the men's national team.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 30, 2023-Ausgabe von The Guardian.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der August 30, 2023-Ausgabe von The Guardian.
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