Ten people have been arrested since Friday after anti -immigrant disturbances in Torre Pacheco, a city in southeastern Spain, including three in relation to the assault of a retiree that was the source of this outbreak of violence, authorities announced on Monday.
“Currently, ten people have been arrested,” said the Central Government delegate in the Region of Murcia, Mariola Guevara, taking stock of the violence that has shaken this city of 40,000 inhabitants.
Almost 80 people have been identified
Among the arrested people, three were in the context of open research after the assault of a retiree in Torre Pacheco last Wednesday, Guevara said.
She had already informed the arrest of two “immigrants” who did not live in Torre Pacheco. The third person was arrested in the Basque Country, in the north of the country, while he headed to France, he said Monday night.
The other seven, a Moroccan citizen and six Spaniards, were arrested for their participation in the confrontations that followed. They are prosecuted for crimes of “public disorders”, “hate” and “voluntary injuries,” he explained.
According to the Government Delegate, almost 80 people who participated in these altercations have also been identified.
“Many of them have a story for acts of violence” and “most are not Torre Pacheco,” he insisted.
This violence was caused by the assault on the street of a 68 -year -old resident, called Domingo. The latter told the Spanish media, with a swollen face, after being attacked without apparent reason for three young people of north of Africa.
This assault, filmed and put online on social networks, pushed the extreme right groups to join in the streets of the city to attack people of origin in North Africa, despite the deployment of important security forces.
“Threats must stop”
“Yesterday, we had already deployed 90 Civil Guard agents,” the Spanish equivalent of the Gendarmerie, and “his workforce will be reinforced tomorrow and in the following days,” said Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
When asked about TVE’s public television, the mayor of Torre Pacheco, Pedro Ángel Roca, said the situation had been “controlled” on Sunday night thanks to the presence of the police, and again asked for calm.
“Threats, assaults and fear in the streets must stop,” said the Moroccan association for immigrant integration, demanding in a press release “real protection for interested parties.”
According to Pedro Ángel Roca, 30% of the 40,000 inhabitants of Torre Pacheco are immigrants, mainly of Moroccan origin, and who work mainly in farms. “These are people who have lived in the city for more than 20 years,” insisted the councilor.
But “there is also crime, of course,” added this member of the Popular Party (PP, right), asking for a reinforced police presence throughout the year and the prohibition that the groups very well join in the city.
According to the authorities, several ultra right movements outside the city participated in the clashes. Among them are the group “Deporting them now” (“bass now”), which asked Telegram from a “hunting” for people of origin in North Africa.
According to the latest data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), 920,000 Moroccans lived in Spain on January 1, 2024. It is the main diaspora in this country, before the Romanians (620,000 people).
Source: BFM TV
