{"id":270138,"date":"2025-07-17T19:50:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T19:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/270138\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T19:50:27","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T19:50:27","slug":"race-tensions-simmer-in-spain-after-mob-rampage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/270138\/","title":{"rendered":"Race tensions simmer in Spain after mob rampage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The windows of Don Kebab are cracked, its shutters drawn up and its owner, Hassan, remains in shock.<\/p>\n

The first warning of the attack against his fast-food restaurant was the arrival, just before midnight on Sunday, of 30 men \u2014 hooded, helmeted and armed with sticks and baseball bats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey shouted \u2018Moor, close up! Don\u2019t work today!\u2019\u201d Hassan said. \u201cThen they sprayed pepper spray. We couldn\u2019t breathe.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted to kill us,\u201d Hassan said. \u201cWe escaped through the back door with our customers just before they destroyed everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attack was one of a series of acts of aggression against Moroccans in Torre Pacheco that have converted the small agricultural town in Murcia, southeastern Spain, into a flashpoint for the country\u2019s tensions over migration.<\/p>\n

\u2018He hit me for fun\u2019<\/p>\n

The violence, led by far-right groups from outside the town, followed an assault on Domingo Tomas, a 68-year-old Spaniard, on July 9. <\/p>\n

Tomas was taking his usual early morning walk, in the cemetery garden near his house on Torre Pacheco\u2019s outskirts, when he came across two young people of Maghrebi origin. A third ran at him and hit him, knocking him down before beating him again, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t understand what they were saying as it was in another language. I didn\u2019t say anything to provoke them,\u201d he told El Espa\u00f1ol. \u201cI had my watch and house keys with me, and that young man didn\u2019t even take the watch \u2014 he just hit me to hurt me. He hit me for fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public anger mounted after a photograph of his bruised face and a video falsely claiming to show the attack were posted online. <\/p>\n

\"Elderly<\/p>\n

Domingo Tomas\u2019s injuries were well publicised<\/p>\n

A group named \u201cDeport Them Now\u201d posted a message on social media calling for attacks against people of north African origin. Its leader was later arrested.<\/p>\n

Three nights of violence<\/p>\n

The conservative-run town council called a peaceful gathering on July 11 to condemn the assault, but it turned violent as far-right groups and locals attacked youths of Maghrebi origin, whom Spanish residents described as \u201cprovocative\u201d. Three nights of violence followed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Clashes with police on July 14<\/p>\n

VIOLETE SANTOS MOURA\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

\"Masked\"Riot<\/p>\n

VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

Clashes mainly took place in the town\u2019s Moroccan-majority neighbourhood of San Antonio, where Spanish groups went to confront residents. Outside Cafeteria Estambul, near where dozens of police were stationed to prevent further violence, Abdel Hamed, 27, a worker in another kebab shop, said that young Moroccans had \u201cfelt attacked and needed to defend themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n

Contributing to the violence, he said, was the fact that \u201cgroups of gitanos [gypsies] had joined in the fight against us, trying to prove they are Spanish\u201d. <\/p>\n

A sense of shock<\/p>\n

On Monday the police arrested three Moroccan citizens from outside the town who are suspected of involvement in the attack on Tomas. Two of the suspects are in their early twenties. The alleged main perpetrator, who is 19 and was granted a residency permit in Barcelona, was detained in northern Spain while attempting to flee to France. He has a history of theft and robbery with violence, El Confidencial reported. <\/p>\n

Hassan, the kebab restaurant owner, said that if the suspect were \u201cmy brother I would personally beat him for all the trouble he has caused. He must face the law.\u201d He added: \u201cI cannot believe that locals would have attacked my shop, it was outsiders \u2026 but it has left me uncertain if it will happen again.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Hassan said the attack left him fearing for his life<\/p>\n

Many others in Torre Pacheco share his sense of shock. The town, previously unknown to most Spaniards, has suddenly become a byword for anti-migrant sentiment. The incidents have fuelled a national debate in a country that until recently believed itself immune to tensions over immigration in other European countries.<\/p>\n

The divisions were on display on Tuesday evening in Torre Pacheco when a few dozen locals gathered again in the central square to listen to right-wing rabble-rousers from elsewhere in Spain. Police had prevented a bigger demonstration. <\/p>\n

\u201cTorre Pacheco is not racist. We have lived for 40 years with immigration. There is no problem with that,\u201d said Carmen Mu\u00f1uera, 55, a clothes shop owner. \u201cThe problem is that there is now a small group of young Moroccans who are bad people and do things like gratuitously beat old people. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been increasing in recent years. The state does nothing. You can\u2019t bring Moroccans here and drop them in the street with no work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Podemos<\/p>\n

Ione Belarra, leader of the left-wing Podemos party, visited Torre Pacheco this week and condemned a \u201cracist hunt\u201d<\/p>\n

EPA<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1uera, who has previously voted for parties ranging from left-wing to conservative, said she did not support the populist right-wing Vox party, which the Socialist-led government has blamed for the violence due to its anti-immigrant rhetoric. Vox has blamed the unrest on \u201cillegal immigration\u201d, and its leader, Santiago Abascal, has called for \u201cimmediate deportations\u201d in response to what he describes as a \u201ccriminal migrant invasion\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018I thought we\u2019d be famous for melons \u2014 not this\u2019<\/p>\n

Torre Pacheco reflects Spain\u2019s rapidly rising immigrant population, a crucial component of the country\u2019s bouyant economy. With a town population of 20,000 \u2014 and the same number again in the wider municipality \u2014 it lies in the \u201cvegetable garden of Europe\u201d, supplying produce such as melons and lettuce to Britain, one of its key markets.<\/p>\n

\"Moroccan<\/p>\n

Moroccan workers at a melon farm outside Torre Pacheco<\/p>\n

MARCIAL GUILLEN\/EPA<\/p>\n

The town\u2019s population has doubled in the past 30 years, and about a third of residents are foreign. Of this group, half are Moroccan. The area\u2019s lucrative agricultural sector depends almost entirely on foreign labour. In 1998, there were 637,000 foreigners in Spain \u2014 about 1.6 per cent of the population, compared to 6.95 million today, or 14 per cent of the total. Moroccans number about 920,000 and are the largest foreign community.<\/p>\n

The government, which aims to regularise up to 300,000 undocumented migrants per year through to 2027, argues immigration helps offset population decline and fill gaps in the labour market. Analysts suggest Spain\u2019s growing Latin American immigrant population has assimilated better due to a shared language and culture. <\/p>\n

Pedro \u00c1ngel Roca, Torre Pacheco\u2019s conservative mayor, said the \u201cincrease of population had brought an increase in crime, like mobile phone robbery\u201d. He added: \u201cThe nationality of the culprits is not important. We have to focus on security. We need more police.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roca lamented the misfortune that had befallen his town, saying it was a \u201cpeaceful, bustling agricultural town where Moroccans work in the town hall and some have become prosperous in their own businesses\u201d. He added: \u201cNobody expected this. I had hoped we would be famous for melons, not this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is coexistence, but not integration due to the lack of public policies,\u201d said Paulino Ros, who is from the town and a sociology professor at the National University of Distance Education in nearby Cartagena.<\/p>\n

\"Anti-migrant<\/p>\n

Demonstrators call for \u201cSpain, honour and glory\u201d at a protest in the town on Tuesday<\/p>\n

VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

At Tuesday\u2019s gathering a handful of men sporting nationalist tattoos stood guard, a couple of people waved Spanish flags and right-wing demagogues urged the town not to be silent to \u201ccriminal immigrants\u201d. <\/p>\n

But Ismail, 26, a Moroccan tradesman, and Daniel, 25, a Spanish agricultural labourer, who described themselves as best friends, said they were against the far-right groups \u201cwho are making this trouble\u201d.<\/p>\n

As residents, they wanted to register their opposition to the groups who had descended on their town. They were there, Daniel said, \u201cagainst the level of crime in Torre Pacheco, which does not depend on race but the individual, and to show our wish for peace in the town\u201d.<\/p>\n

Riding through the streets of Torre Pacheco on an electric scooter, Yassin Zouher, a 17-year-old computer science student who arrived from Morocco aged six due to his father\u2019s work, wondered if it was already too late for peace. \u201cI fear this has changed the atmosphere. People will say \u2018Here comes a Moroccan, be careful\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cRacism at school, which I suffered, will increase.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The windows of Don Kebab are cracked, its shutters drawn up and its owner, Hassan, remains in shock.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-270138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114870316549401789","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}