Inside quiet rural Spanish town that's become flashpoint for anger at pro-immigration policy after OAP's savage beating
The beating, allegedly at the hands of a North African youth as two others looked on, sparked race riots that have rocked Spain.
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'I didn't say anything to provoke them,' the 68-year-old retired farm worker from the southeastern town of Torre-Pacheco insisted.
'I had my watch and house keys with me, and that young man didn't even take the watch. He just hit me to hurt me. He hit me for fun.'
If local gossip is to be believed, the blows rained down on Domingo were for social media likes.
It left local hotheads — egged on by the far right — thirsting for revenge.
Once sleepy Torre-Pacheco, which lies amid the so-called 'vegetable garden of Europe', descended into three nights of inter-ethnic mob violence.
The race riots — the worst in Spain for decades — have left many questioning its socialist government's pro- immigration stance.
Policies have included making it easier for undocumented immigrants to become legal citizens.
Torre-Pacheco's population has doubled to 40,000 over the last 30 years as workers have come from abroad to toil in the fields.
Now, about a third of residents are foreign-born, many from Morocco.
Professor Juan Antonio Soto, from the University of Navarra, told me: 'Torre-Pacheco isn't a fringe case. It's the frontline of Spain's migration model — and its failure to integrate newcomers.'
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Bloodied and scarred
Britain, which saw eight police officers injured in clashes outside an Essex migrant hotel after an asylum seeker was accused of sexual assault this week has watched on uneasily as events unfolded in Spain.
While some locals here in Torre-Pacheco tell me the explosion of violence has been brewing for decades, it was Domingo's beating which lit the blue touch paper.
On July 9, the pensioner left his villa near the centre of Torre-Pacheco at around 5.30am for his daily stroll.
Exercising before the stultifying daytime temperatures soared, he walked briskly towards the cemetery on his regular two-and-a-half-mile route.
Then, he noticed three North African men, one of whom, armed with a stick, allegedly knocked him down and beat him.
The pensioner believes the other two were recording what happened on their phones.
Images of his bloodied and scarred face were broadcast across Spain, sparking pity and anger.
Domingo would later offer a motive for the beating he allegedly received, saying: 'In town, they say the young kids are doing a dare, hitting someone to see who hits harder.
'And I think that's why they did it — to film everything.'
Three men have been arrested, including a 19-year-old from Barcelona who was held trying to make his way to France.
Then, on July 11, Torre-Pacheco's mayor rashly called for a rally in the Town Hall Square under the slogan, 'free from violence, free from crime'.
Hundreds of residents, including those from an immigrant background, attended the demonstration, which was initially peaceful.
Later, violence flared and locals and extremists from other parts of Spain began goading North Africans with shouts of, 'Moors, sons of bitches' and, 'Go back to your country'.
Social media did its foul work. A fake video purportedly showing Domingo's beating did the rounds, while a Telegram group named Deport Them Now called for a migrant 'hunt'.
Feral-looking youths seemed to take them at their word.
For three nights, masked mobs swarmed the streets as darkness fell and the 35C temperatures abated.
When the rabble reached the Moroccan district of San Antonio in the town, hooded youths looking just as menacing were waiting for them.
Among the arsenal of weapons employed by both mobs were baseball bats, clubs and bottles. Riot cops fired rubber bullets to quell the unrest.
On July 13, Hassan, the Moroccan owner of Don Kebabs, was forced to flee his takeaway when a 50-strong, balaclava-clad mob yelled at him: 'Shut up shop, moro (an insulting word for North Africans), today you're not going to work.'
They then smashed the place up as Hassan and one of his staff fled through a back door. Santiago Abascal — leader of the far right Vox Party — looked to capitalise on the violence.
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He released a video saying of migration: 'It has stolen our borders, it has stolen our peace and it has stolen our prosperity.'
With his party sitting third in the polls, Abascal blamed the ruling Socialists and the conservative Popular Party for 'all the violence' and demanded 'immediate deportations'.
'Clash of cultures'
Vox was the most popular party in Torre-Pacheco in the last town hall elections in 2019, capturing over 38 per cent of the vote.
The mayhem left Britons with plush villas at the Mar Menor Resort on the outskirts of Torre-Pacheco wary of leaving the secure complex.
One retiree there told me: 'There's a Spar supermarket and a poolside bar, so we luckily don't need to leave.'
Enjoying the evening sun in San Antonio this week, motorcycle mechanic Mohammed, 30, told me: 'We don't want problems, we're not aggressive people, but we're not frightened of the racists.'
He and his farm labourer friend Mustafa Kawder, 24, insisted they weren't involved in the violence.
The immigrants who come here want to bring their culture and Sharia law with them.
Javier Rubio, Protestor
Mustafa, a £6.20-an-hour melon picker, added: 'There was a lot of racism here before all this happened. I was born in Morocco, but won't leave because of this. Spain is my home now.'
In the centre of the town, I met Javier Rubio, 40, who has travelled down from Alicante to speak out against Muslim immigration because he believes 'there is a clash of cultures'.
He says he has not been involved in the violence. Nevertheless, the sausage hanging from his waist — 'because Muslims don't like pork' — reveals the mark of the man.
Previously working as a waiter in London for nine years, he said: 'The first week I was in England, I found work. I didn't claim benefits. I paid taxes and didn't commit any crime.
'And I didn't ask for running bulls through the streets of England. Go to Spain if you want that.
"The immigrants who come here want to bring their culture and Sharia law with them.'
At times, security forces were overwhelmed by the violence in Torre-Pacheco in the past week.
They only got a grip on the gang warfare by sealing off entrances to the town from outside provocateurs. There have been at least five injuries and 14 arrests.
Once a sleepy farming village, irrigation in the late 1970s turned its dustbowl fields into a fertile plain of lush olive and lemon groves. Soon, polytunnels were used to protect lettuce and artichoke crops while fields of ripening melons now ring the town.
Thousands of labourers were needed to plant and harvest the crops and Spain looked abroad to fill shortages.
Now the sprawling town is home to around 6,500 Moroccan-born workers as well as migrant communities hailing from Mali, Senegal, Romania and Ecuador.
Professor Soto said: 'Many migrants arrived legally, but there's also been irregular migration, with thousands working in the informal economy or living in precarious housing.'
Brought up in regional capital Murcia, the professor says some of Torre-Pacheco's schools have over 60 per cent of pupils from migrant backgrounds.
Meanwhile, some migrants live in ramshackle properties that lack electricity or sanitation and, according to Professor Soto, have 'little meaningful integration' with Spanish society.
In September 2021, a suspected suicide terror attack was unleashed in nearby Roldan.
Moroccan-born Abdelllah Gmara stabbed himself then accelerated a VW Golf at over 60mph into the terrace of Honey's Bar, a popular venue with British expats.
One diner was killed and others were injured. The driver, who reportedly left notes suggesting a jihadist motive, also died.
Yet, outwardly at least, most in the town seemed to rub along. Professor Soto added: 'On the surface, things remained calm — but many locals felt ignored, especially as services became overwhelmed.'
'They have no identity'
At the same time, many second and third-generation descendants of Moroccan immigrants are struggling for identity in a town where they face racist abuse from some.
'The problem is they have no identity,' said local sociologist Paulino Ros. 'They want to be Spanish and feel Spanish.
'But the people in the street's common insult is, 'Moorish s**t, go back to your country'.'
The 57-year-old dad of two, who produces the Islam In Murcia blog, added: 'They were born in Spain and don't know Morocco, so they are foreigners at home.
'They have this conflict of identity and this is a problem. When you are a teenager, your mind is crazy.'
Now, uneasy tension shrouds the town. At the Cafeteria Estambul in the heart of San Antonio, boss Salah El Hilali, 56, told me: 'I get worried after 8pm when the attacks were coming. But we trust the police who are defending us.'
Above the counter, a picture of the Spanish football team is proudly displayed.
Enjoying a coffee, Moroccan-born Ayyad Houssin, 35, said: 'I'm worried for the future. So many people support Vox now.'
Sociologist Paulino is equally downbeat. 'Soon the police and the journalists will leave,' he added. 'And we will be in deep s**t.'
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