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Authorities say at least one person arrested after disorder broke out in Torre Pacheco over attack on pensioner
Several people were hurt in a second night of anti-migrant unrest in the town of Torre Pacheco in south-east Spain after a pensioner reported being beaten up, authorities said.
Despite a major police presence, groups armed with batons roamed the streets looking for people with foreign origins, the regional newspaper La Opinión de Murcia reported.
The regional government did not say how many people were injured but stated that at least one person had been arrested over the violence.
The unrest erupted after a 68-year-old man told Spanish media he was attacked in the street on Wednesday by three young people, who he believed to be of north African origin. One of the three had beaten him up, another had shouted at him and the third, he believed, had filmed the attack on a phone, he reportedly told police.
Police sources told La Opinión de Murcia that they were investigating whether the alleged attack had been filmed and put on social media.
A video, said to be of the alleged attack, circulated widely online, fuelling tensions. Factchecking by several Spanish media later revealed that the images were not related to the one that reportedly took place in Murcia.
The Murcia town hall organised a demonstration on Friday that was intended to be peaceful but where far-right elements shouted anti-migrant slogans. One group called Deport Them Now posted a message on social media calling for attacks against people of north African origin.
Spanish authorities launched an appeal for calm on Sunday in the town of 36,000 people.
The conservative head of the Murcian regional government, Fernando López Miras, said in a post on X: “Torre Pacheco must get back to normal. I understand the frustration but nothing justifies violence.”
The Torre Pacheco mayor, Pedro Angel Roca Ternel, told RTVE public television: “I call on residents to be calm, for tranquillity.”
Spain’s youth minister, Sira Rego, a member of the hard-left Sumar alliance, condemned the violence against migrants in a message on Bluesky, blaming the “ultra-right” for the unrest.
Several people were hurt in a second night of anti-migrant unrest in the town of Torre Pacheco in south-east Spain after a pensioner reported being beaten up, authorities said.
Despite a major police presence, groups armed with batons roamed the streets looking for people with foreign origins, the regional newspaper La Opinión de Murcia reported.
The regional government did not say how many people were injured but stated that at least one person had been arrested over the violence.
The unrest erupted after a 68-year-old man told Spanish media he was attacked in the street on Wednesday by three young people, who he believed to be of north African origin. One of the three had beaten him up, another had shouted at him and the third, he believed, had filmed the attack on a phone, he reportedly told police.
Police sources told La Opinión de Murcia that they were investigating whether the alleged attack had been filmed and put on social media.
A video, said to be of the alleged attack, circulated widely online, fuelling tensions. Factchecking by several Spanish media later revealed that the images were not related to the one that reportedly took place in Murcia.
The Murcia town hall organised a demonstration on Friday that was intended to be peaceful but where far-right elements shouted anti-migrant slogans. One group called Deport Them Now posted a message on social media calling for attacks against people of north African origin.
Spanish authorities launched an appeal for calm on Sunday in the town of 36,000 people.
The conservative head of the Murcian regional government, Fernando López Miras, said in a post on X: “Torre Pacheco must get back to normal. I understand the frustration but nothing justifies violence.”
The Torre Pacheco mayor, Pedro Angel Roca Ternel, told RTVE public television: “I call on residents to be calm, for tranquillity.”
Spain’s youth minister, Sira Rego, a member of the hard-left Sumar alliance, condemned the violence against migrants in a message on Bluesky, blaming the “ultra-right” for the unrest.
