Ben Pawlowski
SPAIN’S racial tensions have been brought to the boil once again after thugs targeted a Madrid centre housing young migrants following reports one of its occupants, a Moroccan, raped a 14-year-old girl in a nearby park.
In an incident reminiscent of July’s violence in Torre Pacheco, two hooded men launched an attack against the residents of the First Reception Centre after a 17-year-old Moroccan migrant was arrested by Spanish police on Friday.
Two minors and an accompanying adult were assaulted in Sunday evening’s attack in the capital, with one of the children requiring hospital treatment.
Police have launched an investigation.
The episode re-opens the wounds of this summer’s riots in Torre Pacheco, the Murcia town where violent unrest erupted after a local 68-year-old man was beaten up by three North African youths.
The attack triggered days of street clashes between local residents and migrants as far-right groups exploited the hostilities to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment.
READ MORE: Guardia Civil boss thanks officers for their efforts in quashing Torre Pacheco race riots
Vox had been planning to hold a mass protest outside the migrant facility on Tuesday evening, but authorities denied their request, citing concerns surrounding public disorder and a legal obligation to safeguard minors from intimidation and exposure to danger.
“The sexual assault against a 14-year-old in Hortaleza is a consequence of the ‘progressive consensus’ embodied by both the Socialist party and the Partido Popular,” Javier Ortega Smith, Vox’s Madrid spokesperson said in a damning statement.
“This disastrous policy of open borders…allows violence to become widespread in neighbourhoods hosting these reception centres.”
The comments provoked a fierce backlash from left-wing politicians, with Francisco Martín, the national government’s delegate in the capital, condemning Sunday’s violence, adding that ‘hate speech ultimately manifests itself in hate crimes’.
“Madrid has recorded 256 rapes this year, yet only this case elicits such political zeal…It is unacceptable to criminalise vulnerable populations,” the Socialist ally of prime minister Pedro Sanchez said.
The case has also shone a light on the controversial issue of where to house migrant children.
Regions across Spain continue to rally against the distribution of unaccompanied minors, with leaders viewing the debate as a political hot potato.
Many continue to cite concerns surrounding overcrowding, safety and the strain on local services, while others slam the centres as sources of social tension.
Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the combative conservative mayor of Madrid, used the case to blast Pedro Sanchez for his government’s handling of immigration, writing on X: “Every day the minors are more aggressive and arrive in worse conditions. And the response of the Sanchez government is to multiply their arrival and neglect them while they insult us.”
Ayuso is launching a legal campaign against the government over what she cites as Madrid’s ‘unfair’ quota of migrant minors.
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