Spanish govt under fire as police chief quits accused of rape

MADRID - Spain’s leftist government, which has

championed the fight against gender-based violence

, grappled with another sex scandal on Feb 18 after a police chief it appointed resigned, accused of raping a woman colleague.

The latest setback lengthens a string of sexual harassment scandals that have embarrassed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s ruling Socialists, while ongoing corruption investigations have threatened to topple his minority coalition.

Jose Angel Gonzalez, the second most senior police officer who was appointed in 2018, quit on Feb 17 after Spanish media reported a junior woman colleague had filed a complaint against him in January for an alleged rape in April 2025.

A judge has summoned him as part of the investigation, they added.

Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told Parliament that Gonzalez jumped before he was pushed, saying the accusation was “so serious that, once known, his resignation was demanded”.

Speaking during a trip to India, Mr Sanchez insisted his government only became aware of the accusation on Feb 17 and had acted “with empathy, coherently and firmly”.

But the conservative main opposition Popular Party (PP) questioned the appointment and how the government remained oblivious to the allegation, demanding Mr Marlaska’s resignation.

“Does it really expect us to accept that an interior minister has no clue that his police top brass commits and covers up crimes?“ PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo wrote on social media platform X.

Mr Marlaska said he would only resign “if the victim herself has not felt protected”.

The case is sensitive for a government that prides itself on promoting gender equality and was shaken by a series of sexual harassment scandals in 2025.

A close aide to Mr Sanchez was removed from his post, but the complainants alleged the Socialist party failed to respond to their reports of incidents for months. AFP