"What if I would do it again? Of course. I'm Spanish, very Spanish. They won't shut me up." Despite admitting that she is "annoyed, and not only physically, but also psychologically", María Grima González - with a cracked rib, taking "only painkillers" - does not get off the donkey.

Bus driver "de la EMT de Tarragona", 61, "Spanish, very Spanish", was in the center of Tarragona last Friday when, in the course of the "unemployment of the country" independence, he faced a few protesters "who were with the usual, that if 'Puta Spain', that if 'Pim pam pum, that there is not one left', well, the usual ."

Maria then took a look at her purse, "and I had just put a handkerchief that, well, it is actually a flag of Spain ... And nothing, I said: 'Go, look what I have here' ". Neither short nor lazy, Grima, mother of four children, arrived from Jaén 44 years ago - "from Villacarrillo we arrived" -, he took out his handkerchief and began to fight.

The images were seen throughout Spain. Maria first danced a kind of Sevillian flag-handkerchief at the ready among the independence protesters, and then she began to hum, because that was to hum: " You are treading Spanish soil! You are treading Spanish soil!"

Until a young man approached her, first she took the flag off with one swipe, and after another, every time she turned, she hit him between the face and the side that threw her violently against the ground. Grima, all "a little dizzy", answers THE WORLD by phone.

What do you know about your aggressor? That he went to testify and little else [he is charged with minor injuries]. Well, and I know where he lives and where he works, because Tarragona is a small town. Yes I know from people around him that he is very successive [sic] in those abductions he has, because so many years ago that the kids here are getting a lot of things, surely he really believes in what he is doing ... He It hit, but you got a little hot. I would do it again? Do you feel what caused it? I respect others, and I don't regret anything at all ... Maybe doing it as spontaneously as I did, because it was a moment of rage. I have always defended my language and here in Catalonia there has always been repression of Castilian, but until I have to draw a flag and say that I am Spanish ... Well yes, I take out a flag and say that I am Spanish. Please explain what rage. It is a cluster of so many injustices that you feel that way. I had to tell them that they are not right, that this is Spanish soil, until the laws change it will be like that, whether they want it or not. That give them independence, because we abide by it. I wanted to convey that. That things must be done legally. I would do it again, of course. How did you end up in the middle of an 'indepe' manifestation? What happened? Look, son, sometimes things seem to be meant for you. Whenever there has been a demonstration for the right to Spanish, which the Constitution protects, I have gone. But that day, I went to make a management to the center [of Tarragona], I was at the bus stop, the demonstration formed out of nowhere, they cut the road and up the demonstration, as always: «Puta España», that that They are great. And I ... Well, I felt anger, I felt courage. I take out the flag, well, the handkerchief, and if you look at the video there are people who took my finger out, but I don't care. I was in my right, just like them. Did you see the aggressor coming? This person, who looks like he has a background, is coming from behind ... He took my flag off, I turned to take it off and it was when he became so genius He gave me such a punch that he caught my whole face and ear. When I opened my eyes I was on the floor and they were lifting me up. I think I lost consciousness a few seconds because I do not remember it well. Did you see the images, which became viral through social networks? Well, the truth is that until three days later I could not see them, not because I was afraid, but because .. Well, let's see how this went ... he hit me, the man hit me. He hit me. Who is Maria Grima, introduce yourself. Uff, son, I have to write a book ... I came to Catalonia with 17 years. I thought I was going from one region to another, it was what I thought. I didn't even know that Catalan existed. It was 1975, because I'm 61 years old. I got married here, I have my children here, I worked here and I have brought my family forward here. I have given everything here. I am here as the one who speaks the most. Do you speak Catalan? Man, because of the work I have, if you speak Catalan to me, I speak in Catalan. If I have to answer because someone does not understand me, I speak Catalan, but if I do not speak my mother tongue. Always. And my children were born here and are Catalan, but their language is mother tongue. That is the only thing we ask: to respect her. How many children do you have? I have three. I had four. A girl died 10 months ago now, a girl I had with a disability. And I have five grandchildren and one on the way. And a son, who is a pilot, I have it in Palermo. Where they feed him. What does his environment tell him? He is very angry. Angry. 'Did it hurt'. Here we were all the same before, here in Catalonia. There are many people from outside, many more than from here. What do I know, my husband is Valencian. The same 90% are from abroad. There had to have been respect and coexistence. I have worked and given everything I had to give, because it is my land, another piece of Spain. My children are Catalan and Spanish. But not this, no. Not this. Has anyone addressed you from, say, the other side, to be interested or apologize? No, at no time. Upside down, to insult them. Insults, and laughing at me.Where? Well, in the networks.But in the networks everything is exaggerated ... Face to face, face to face ... Well, there was a group, of young people, yes. They come to take pictures with you, they laugh. And then there was another group that told me they had looked for me ... And they make me sad. Because you can never rejoice in the evil of others. I told them that. You pity me, you pity me for the education your parents have given you. He has lost respect. Many say to me: 'It's that you looked for it.' They make me sad, isn't it tremendous that this has come to this bad roll? Yes, but I respect, within the law. Does a president come out that you don't like? Well, you have to comply. But they don't want us to think what we think. You, who live at street level: how have we got to stop here? This has been amassed for 40 years. When my children started school, only Catalan, only Catalan, and I wanted them to learn Catalan, English, French ... We gathered a family and collected 15,000 signatures in Tarragona. In the Constitutional they gave us the reason, and said that it had to be half in Catalan and half in Spanish, that I don't understand why, but hey. We bought Spanish books and they were giving everything in Catalan once again a week. It gave them exactly the same. In what year was that? Well the same in the 90s and something or that way. This comes from long, little by little. They have built a monster that there is no one to stop, they feel alone. No one protects us. They make their laws and in the rest of Spain no importance is given to what happens here. And it has never been given. This is the fault of all governments. All that has been. Here Javier came to give a rally the other day, and they are the only ones who say what is here. Ortega Smith, he means. They are the only ones.

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  • Tarragona
  • Catalonia
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  • Catalonia independence

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