This is the moment a pair of Spanish cops on horseback chase a cyclist spotted breaking the Coronavirus lockdown in the streets of Madrid.
The startling incident took place on the main street in the Arganzuela neighborhood of the Spanish capital Madrid as two members of the police’s cavalry unit were patrolling during the coronavirus lockdown.
In the video, the two cops on horseback can be seen in the road when a cyclist goes past them in the bike lane.
The cops appear to shout at the cyclist who does not stop and one of the officers then chases after him on horseback.
His partner then joins and the two horses are seen running down the street in front of motor vehicles after the cyclist.
The police shared the video with the message: “We are in a critical phase in the fight against the coronavirus, we will not stop chasing the behavior of the irresponsible minority who put the majority at risk.”
Local media report that the Spanish National Police reported 1,137 people on Saturday for breaking the isolation and 15 people were arrested for the same reason.
The video has almost 1 million views and highlights how important horses are for the police because they make many types of police work easier and safer. Most people are familiar with police doing crowd control on horseback, which makes sense because the height of the horse gives them better viewing.
If things get out of hand, mounted units can form a barrier better than officers on foot, and yet being on horseback gives them more flexibility than working in motor vehicles.
They’ve been especially active in parks and outdoor tourist areas that are harder to cover on foot or by automobile.
👉Estamos en una fase crítica en la lucha contra el #Covid_19
Y no dejaremos de perseguir 🐎 las conductas de esa minoría irresponsable que pone en riesgo a la mayoría.#EsteVirusLoParamosUnidos pic.twitter.com/m94DeG6zmN
— Policía Nacional (@policia) March 22, 2020