Javier Romo denies in court an alleged attack on a protester in the Vuelta

The cyclist of the Movistar Team Javier Romo has declared this Wednesday as being investigated in the case opened for the alleged attack on a person participating in the pro-Palestinian protests that followed the passage through Galicia of the Tour of Spain in 2025.

Romo has intervened by videoconference from the Albacete courts as part of the investigation process initiated after the arrest of eight people involved in the protest actions that took place during the fifteenth stage of the cycling round, between Vegadeo (Asturias) and Monforte de Lemos (Lugo).

While passing through the municipality of O Corgo in Lugo, the platoon’s progress was affected by the sudden appearance of a protester carrying a Palestinian flag on one of the sides of the road; which caused the intervention of the security forces and, when crossing paths with the cyclists, the fall of the member of the Movistar Team.

It was at that moment when, according to one of the accusations, Javier Romo He allegedly kicked the detained person “several kicks”, against whom he also uttered insults and disqualifications, according to what was told to EFE by the same source.

In his judicial statement, which was produced after several prior requests, Dull has denied these events and also a subsequent confrontation with another group of protesters; In addition to stressing that he does not remember well what happened that day because he was dazed by the effects of the fall.

In the next stage, the athlete from La Mancha abandoned the competition due to the bruises suffered in this incident.

For their part, the eight detainees are being prosecuted for a possible crime of injuries and public disorder, although the case remains in the investigation phase and pending the judge of the court of first instance number two of Lugo to dictate the opening of an oral trial or, otherwise, the file and dismissal of the case.

The 2025 edition of the Vuelta Ciclista a España was marked by a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests against the participation in this competition of the Israel-Premier Tech team, which ended up affecting the development of several days and forced the cancellation of the last stage with the final in Madrid.

Several organizations at the time pointed to the team with Israeli capital, which this season has competed without incident after being acquired by new owners and sporting other sponsors, as “one more attempt to wash the reality of ‘apartheid’ and the genocide against Palestine with the flag of sport.”