The Spanish government said on Monday that police had arrested eight people in the southeastern town of Torre Pacheco after three consecutive nights of clashes between far-right groups and North African immigrants.
According to Reuters, this is one of the worst such riots in Spain in recent years. Reuters reporters witnessed on the scene that on Sunday night, several young people wearing balaclavas threw glass bottles and other objects at riot police. Police fired rubber bullets to quell the riots.
The conflict was caused by an attack on a man in his 60s last week. The man is currently recovering at home.
The victim told LaSexta that he was walking in the cemetery garden when he encountered two men who spoke in a language he could not understand, and one of them rushed towards him in an emotional state.
“He pushed me to the ground and hit me. It all happened so quickly. I remember they hit me and then left.” The man’s name is Domingo Tomas, and his identity has been confirmed by multiple media.
Authorities said they had arrested two foreigners suspected of involvement in the attack and were still hunting for the main attacker, who had been identified.
The Ministry of the Interior said the remaining six people – five Spaniards and one of North African descent – were arrested for assault, public order violations, hate crimes and property damage.
Torre Pacheco has a population of about 40,000, of which about a third are immigrants, many of whom are second-generation immigrants. The region is well-developed in agriculture, attracting a large number of immigrants for seasonal labor, and is one of the pillars of the economy of the Autonomous Region of Murcia.
Local mayor Pedro Angel Roca appealed in an interview with national television TVE:
“I ask the immigrant community not to leave their homes and not to confront violent elements. Confrontation will only make people more afraid and is meaningless.”
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said in an interview with Cadena Ser radio that the violence was related to anti-immigrant rhetoric from far-right organizations and parties such as Vox, which unreasonably linked crime to immigration.
He added that the riots were organized and incited on social media.
Santiago Abascal, leader of the Vox movement, denied any involvement in the incidents, instead blaming the government’s immigration policy as the root cause.
Spain has historically been open to immigration, emphasizing its economic contribution, despite tightening borders in many European countries. However, Vox has slammed the government’s plan to transfer unaccompanied minors from the Canary Islands to mainland Spain as the nationwide controversy has heated up again.
“Spain is not a country that hunts migrants,” Spanish Immigration Minister Elma Saiz said in an interview with El País newspaper. “If we are going to take to the streets, it is to defend the rights of thousands of migrants who are in fear and despair because of this migrant hunt.”
Abdelali, a North African immigrant who did not want to give his last name, told Reuters that he was afraid to ride his motorcycle for fear of being thrown bottles by rioters.
“We want peace, we want that and nothing else,” he said on Sunday.
