Latest news with #FernandoGrandeMarlaska
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Anti-migrant riots erupt in Spanish town after elderly man brutally bashed
Anti-immigrant riots have rocked a small southeastern Spanish town after a brutal attack on a pensioner by North African youths sparked public outrage. The country's far right Vox party has been accused of whipping up 'hate crimes' with calls to 'deport them all' and police reinforcements have been deployed to Torre Pacheo to quell the unrest. Spanish police said on Monday 10 people had been arrested after three nights of violence. Authorities said 80 people had been identified, 'many of them with criminal records for violence'. 'The majority of them are not from Torre Pacheco,' said Mariola Guevara Cava, the central government's representative in the Murcia region. Two Moroccans were initially arrested for their suspected role in the attack on Domingo Tomás, while six Spaniards and a Moroccan were held for 'altercations, crimes of hate, damage, and public disorder', she told reporters. A third suspect in the attack on Mr Tomás, 68, believed to be the main perpetrator, was later arrested while planning to flee across the border by train to France, state news agency EFE reported. The Civil Guard has deployed 90 officers to quell the unrest and more would be sent, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told Cadena SER radio. Mr Grande-Marlaska said more than 20 vehicles had been intercepted trying to enter the town, many some occupants carrying sticks and batons. A far-right group named 'Deport Them Now' had posted a message online calling for attacks against people of North African origin. Torre Pacheco Mayor Pedro Angel Roca told Cadena SER that social media had inflamed clashes involving nonresidents that saw street equipment broken and car windows smashed. Public outrage exploded last week after a photo of the elderly man's badly bruised face and a purported video of the attack spread online. Mr Tomás told local media he was attacked while on his usual early morning walk at 5.30am on Wednesday. He said he came across two young people of Maghrebi origin when a third ran and hit him with a stick, knocking him down before beating him again. 'I didn't understand what they were saying as it was in another language,' he told the El Español website. 'I didn't say anything to provoke them. 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. 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.' But Mr Tomás said the video purporting to show the attack was not him, sparking claims that far-right groups were spreading misinformation online. Mr Tomás' wife, Encarnación, has since condemned the rioters and urged them to leave Torre Pacheco. 'They're doing the same thing they did to Domingo,' she told El Español. The Moroccan Association for the Integration of Immigrants said in a statement that 'threats, attacks and fear in the streets must end', demanding 'real protection for the affected people'. The Mayor told public broadcaster TVE that 30 per cent of Torre Pacheco's 40,000 inhabitants were immigrants, mainly agricultural labourers, 'who have been living in the town for more than 20 years'. Moroccans are the most represented nationality among Spain's foreign population, numbering more than 920,000 according to latest official figures. Abdelali, a North African resident, told The Times he was now afraid of being attacked on the streets. 'We want peace,' he said. 'That's what we want, we don't want anything else. I ride my scooter and I'm afraid of being hit by a bottle.' Tensions erupted on Friday after the city council called a peaceful demonstration to condemn the attack on Mr Tomás. A handful of Maghrebi youths arrived and were attacked by members of far-right groups despite a heavy police presence, footage on social media showed. Dozens of far-right youths hurled bottles and objects at police and roamed the town's streets, going to homes where they knew foreigners lived, according to local media. Mayor Roca urged the 'migrant community not to leave their homes and not to confront rioters', telling TVE 'confrontation achieves nothing and ultimately makes us all afraid'. Mr Grande-Marlaska blamed far right groups and Vox for the unrest, saying official data did not support the party's claims linking illegal immigration with crime. 'It's a consequence of the far-right's rhetoric, endorsed by the right, which doesn't question it,' he said. 'It's Vox's fault and its rhetoric.' Vox leader Santiago Abascal has denied any responsibility for the violence and blamed the government's immigration policies. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) on Monday announced that it had filed a hate crime complaint with prosecutor's office against José Ángel Antelo, the regional leader of Vox. Francisco Lucas, PSOE's general secretary for the Murcia region, said the legal action came in response to an event on Saturday where Mr Antelo linked immigration with crime. 'We already warned of what was going to happen, that the Spanish people were going to get tired of continuing to pay for this illegal immigration that, in many cases, is the same one that attacks our elderly in the streets, the same one that attacks homosexuals and rapes our daughters in the streets,' Mr Antelo said in front of media. 'We don't want people like that in our country. We're going to deport them all. Not one of them will remain.' PSOE alleged Mr Antelo's statement 'attacks the security of thousands of people and is incompatible with human rights' and that 'in a democracy, there is no room for racism or violence'. The left-wing Podemos party also said on Monday it would file complaints against Vox leaders including Mr Abascal, accusing them of 'spreading and encouraging videos of lynchings' in Torre Pacheco, El Español reported. Podemos spokesman Pablo Fernández told reporters on Monday that the incidents in Torre Pacheco were an example of 'institutional racism' in Spain, 'given the impunity that the attackers have enjoyed until now, something that everyone has been able to see in the brutal and bloody images disseminated on social media'. He also claimed some police officers were even 'colluding with the Nazis'.
Times
3 days ago
- Times
Anti-migrant rioters attack homes of ‘foreigners' in Spanish town
Nine people have been arrested after three days of anti-immigrant clashes in a town in southeastern Spain following an attack on a pensioner. Police reinforcements have been deployed to Torre-Pacheco, in the Murcia region, where five people have been injured and nine detained in the disturbances, officials said on Monday. Far-right groups and residents have fought against youths of north African origin several times since a 68-year-old Spaniard was attacked on Wednesday. Public anger mounted after a photograph of his badly bruised face and a video purporting to show the attack were posted online. The man, Domingo Tomás, told Spanish media that the incident occurred as he took his usual early morning walk at 5.30am. He came across two young people of Maghrebi origin, he said, when a third ran at him and hit him with a stick, knocking him down before beating him again. 'I didn't understand what they were saying as it was in another language. I didn't say anything to provoke them,' he told El Español news website. '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. '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.' Two of the three suspects have been arrested, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the interior minister, said on Monday. Police were still looking for the main perpetrator. Six others — five Spaniards and one north African resident — were arrested for assault, public disorder, hate crimes or damage to property, the interior ministry said on Monday morning. Later in the day, a ninth person was detained in connection with an attack on a kebab shop. The local mayor, Pedro Ángel Roca, called on the 'migrant community not to leave their homes and not to confront rioters', telling the national broadcaster, TVE: 'Confrontation achieves nothing and ultimately makes us all afraid.' Tomás said that the video purporting to show the attack was not of him, prompting media to report that it had been circulated by far-right groups hoping to whip up anger. One group, named 'Deport Them Now', posted a message on social media calling for attacks against people of north African origin. • Police should disclose ethnicity of suspects, says Met chief On Friday, the city council had called a peaceful demonstration to condemn the attack, but tensions were already running high. A handful of youths of Maghrebi origin arrived, as did members of far-right groups who attacked them despite the presence of police officers. Videos posted on social media showed men dressed in clothes bearing far-right symbols and migrants carrying Moroccan flags hurling objects at each other in Saturday night's violence, which came after lower intensity unrest. Several dozen youths from far-right groups, some hooded, hurled glass bottles and objects at riot police in Torre-Pacheco on Sunday night. Police fired rubber bullets to quell the unrest. Groups of violent individuals, many of them from outside the municipality, roamed the town's streets armed with sticks and went to homes where they knew foreigners lived, according to the local newspaper La Opinión de Murcia. Police intercepted more than 20 vehicles attempting to enter the town, with some occupants carrying sticks and batons, Grande-Marlaska said. The Murcian town has 40,000 inhabitants, 30 per cent of whom are of Maghrebi origin. The area surrounding the town also hosts large numbers of migrants who work as day labourers in agriculture, one of the pillars of the regional economy. Politicians have appealed for calm. Grande-Marlaska blamed far-right groups and the populist right-wing Vox party. 'It's a consequence of the far-right's rhetoric, endorsed by the right, which doesn't question it. It's Vox's fault and its rhetoric,' he said. He criticised the political party's association of illegal immigration with crime when interior ministry data 'doesn't support it'. The Vox leader, Santiago Abascal, denied any responsibility for the incidents and said the government's migration policies were to blame. Abdelali, a north African resident who declined to give his surname, said he was now afraid of being attacked on the streets. He said: 'We want peace. That's what we want, we don't want anything else. I ride my scooter and I'm afraid of being hit by a bottle.' In 2000, violent anti-immigration protests broke out in the town of El Ejido in southern Spain after three Spanish citizens were killed by Moroccan migrants.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Eight arrested after far-right groups and migrants clash in Spanish town
By Leonardo Benassatto TORRE PACHECO, Spain (Reuters) -Spanish police have arrested eight people after three nights of clashes between far-right groups and North African migrants in a town in southeastern Spain, the government said on Monday. In one of Spain's worst such flare-ups of recent times, several dozen youths from far-right groups, some hooded, hurled glass bottles and objects at riot police in Torre Pacheco on Sunday night. Police fired rubber bullets to quell the unrest. The trouble stemmed from an attack last week by unidentified assailants on an elderly man that left him injured and recovering at home. Authorities said two of those arrested were involved in that assault though they were still looking for the main perpetrator. The other six - five Spaniards and one person of North African origin - were arrested for assault, public disorder, hate crimes or damage to property, the Interior Ministry said. Migrants, many of them second-generation, make up about a third of Torre Pacheco's population of about 40,000. The area around the town also hosts large numbers of migrants who work as day labourers in agriculture, one of the pillars of the economy in the Murcia region. Speaking to radio station Cadena Ser, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska attributed the violence to anti-immigration rhetoric from far-right groups and political parties such as Vox, citing organisation and calls on social media. Police intercepted more than 20 vehicles attempting to enter the town, with some occupants carrying sticks and extendable batons, he said. "There are gatherings to resolve the issue (assault) for us. We don't want those," mayor Pedro Angel Roca told national broadcaster TVE. Abdelali, a North African migrant who lives in Torre Pacheco and declined to give his surname, said he was afraid of riding his scooter for fear of being hit by bottles hurled by the rioters. "We want peace. That's what we want, we don't want anything else," he told Reuters on Sunday on a street in Torre Pacheco. In 2000, violent anti-immigration protests broke out in the Almeria town of El Ejido in southern Spain after three Spanish citizens were killed by Moroccan migrants.
