By Ana Cantero
MADRID, July 13 (Reuters) – Violent clashes erupted between far-right groups, local residents and North African migrants in a town in southeastern Spain late on Saturday following an attack on an elderly man by unknown assailants earlier in the week.
Five people were hurt and one was arrested during the unrest in Torre-Pacheco, local officials told Reuters, in one of the worst such episodes in the country in recent decades. The town was quieter on Sunday, but government sources said more arrests were expected.
Videos posted on social media showed men dressed in clothes bearing far-right symbols and migrants carrying Moroccan flags hurling objects at each other in Saturday night’s violence, which followed several days of lower intensity unrest.
Tensions flared up between local residents and migrants after the elderly man was attacked in the street on Wednesday, causing injuries from which he is recovering at home. The reasons behind the assault are unclear and no one has been arrested.
The central government’s representative in the area, Mariola Guevara, told Spanish public TV the attack was being investigated.
She also denounced “hate speech” and “incitement to violence,” as far-right groups moved into the town, and said additional Guardia Civil officers would be deployed to deal with the violence.
Nearly a third of Torre-Pacheco’s population is of foreign origin, according to local government data.
The area surrounding the town, which is located in the Murcia region, also hosts large numbers of migrants who work as day labourers in agriculture, one of the pillars of the regional economy.
Less than two weeks ago, Murcia’s government had to backtrack on a proposal to buy housing to accommodate unaccompanied migrant minors as the ruling conservative People’s Party (PP) was threatened by far-right Vox, whose support the PP needs to pass laws.
In 2000, violent anti-immigration protests broke out in the Almeria town of El Ejido in southern Spain after three Spanish citizens were killed by Moroccan migrants.
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