Alfredo Perdiguero, a subinspector in Spain's National Police Corps and a member of the far-right political party Vox in Madrid, has accused a handball team from the Navarra region of glorifying the Basque terrorist group ETA. In a tweet, the policeman shared a fragment of the broadcast of a match played last week between the Helvetia Anaitasuna team and the Barça club in the first round of the handball league.
Specifically, Perdiguero seemed convinced that he heard the cry "Gora ETA" - "Go ETA!" while the team from Navarra were in a huddle, during a time-out. The accusation, as the club itself explained, makes no sense. What they really exclaimed is "Gora Anaita" - "Go Anaita!" the popular rallying cry of this club from the city of Pamplona.
Translation:
"I guess this GORA ETA will have been faked, right?"— Alfredo Perdiguero M.
"It's hard to have to explain certain things, but we are forced to do this to safeguard the image of the team and sponsors in the face of messages that try to damage our image and generate confusion. The rally cry of our team has been #GoraAnaita for years and it's always been the same." - Helvetia Anaitasuna
Perdiguero, famous on Twitter for frequently losing his cool, signed up for Vox Madrid before the municipal elections in May this year. The policeman, who was number 16 on the party list, had previously been negotiating with the Ciudadanos party, but was rejected because of his sexist outbursts on social media.