that Spain ends like other European countries

Torre Pacheco is a Murcia town of just over 40,000 inhabitants, a municipality that basically lives from agriculture and in which almost a third of the population is foreign. His name does not usually sneak into the headlines of the international press, but today they talk about him analysts in half Europe. The reason: a wave of unrest directed against immigrants who remembers what has lived in 2000 in The ejido (Andalusia) or those that have been registered in recent years in different parts of Europe, such as Dublin or more recently BallymenaUnited Kingdom.

With the exception perhaps of El Ejido so far Spain had dodged that wave. The question seen what happened in Murcia is … Will it remain so?

What happened? That Torre Pacheco, a town of 40,000 inhabitants From the region of Mar Menor, in Murcia, it has become national and international news, monopolizing headlines in the means of reach of The Guardian either The Telegraph. The reason? An outbreak of violence against the immigrant population of the municipality after a 68 -year -old neighbor received a brutal beating, an aggression that the authorities are still investigating (there are Two detainees) but that in the street (and networks) was attributed to young Moroccans.

Why is it news? That what happened in Torre Pacheco has had an impact beyond the regional press responds to several reasons. The first, the scope of the riots. EFE He spoke This morning of eight detainees, five Spaniards and three Maghreb. The balance of injured Attended by emergency services due to gaps, blows and trauma is even greater. The wave of violence reached such a level that on the weekend the Civil Guard had to reinforce your presence.

The trigger. The altercations have also been news for their political context and the role that the networks have played. The spark that jumped the riots was the beating that a 68 -year -old neighbor received on Wednesday while taking a walk. In An interview with The Spanish The victim said that a “Moroccan boy” was shouted at him and gave him “a stake” while other young people recorded him. At the moment the police have arrested Two Maghreb 21 and 22 who, although they did not participate in the aggression, were present. None reside in the town.

From the beating the “hunt”. The event led the City Council to organize A manifestation to claim a “crime free” town and unleashed indignation in networks. Outrage and Fake News. Shortly after the case began to circulate A video that supposedly showed the beating, in addition to images in which the faces of the assumptions aggressors were identified.

The victim herself He has made clear That the person seen in the video is not him, but that did not prevent the material from circulating through networks with ultras group messages for “hunt” immigrants. “They have come from outside the municipality to provoke because they know we live here,” he said to The country Omar, a 25 -year -old.

Is it the first time? No. What happened these days in Torre Pacheco reminds in some ways the incidents that were lived 25 years ago In the ejido (Andalusia), although the balance of arrested and injured there was quite greater. The trigger on that occasion was three murders perpetrated by Moroccans in a matter of two weeks. Latest From them he was committed by an immigrant with paranoid schizophrenia who ended the stabbing of a young woman in a market in Santa María del Águila, which in turn unleashed one wave of violence that left dozens of injured.

If this weekend could be seen altercations Between ultras and immigrants in Torre Pacheco, people were seen in the ejido of 2000 armed with bars Iron attacking immigrants and destroying premises. The tumults extended Between February 5 and 7 and forced the government to strengthen The presence of the Civil Guard and National Police, which did not prevent the episode from resorting with Several dozens of injured and damage. “Organized xenophobic groups have set fire to which immigrants are housed, which scared hide from the games of neighbors armed with sticks and chains that run through the streets,” He reported by then ABC.

Beyond Spain. What happened in Murcia is news for another reason: it connects with more or less similar episodes registered over the last years in other countries in Europe. The details or scope change, but not the target: immigration. In November 2023 A series of stabbing unleashed a wave of violent protests against foreigners in Dublin and a few weeks ago an alleged violation case resulted in unrest Xenophobes in Northern Ireland.

In Sweden and Denmark protests have also been convened during which copies of the Qur’an have burned, Belgium has suffered racist disturbances and in February the AP agency It echoed of migrants who have received an “increase in racist attacks” in Magdeburg after the attack against a local Christmas market.

On the social agenda. There are also mass mobilizations of opposite sign, in which xenophobia is denounced. In March without going any further, France welcomed several marches with tens of thousands of participants who rose against hate to foreigners. The phenomenon confirms in any case that racism has an increasing importance in the social and political agenda of Europe, an boom that coincides with The progressive strengthening of the extreme right.

What is the context? Cases such as Torre Pacheco, Ejido or Dublin incidents of 2023 are framed in a clear context: The increase of the immigrant population in Europe. In February Euronews revealed which in 2024 resided in the 27 community countries around 44.7 million citizens born outside the EU, which represents almost 10% of the total population. The data reveals a remarkable year -on -year increase, of 2.3 million. The countries with the highest number of people born abroad were, in order, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

At least in 2019 near DL 30% From the population of Torre Pacheco, in which agriculture has a key weight, it was migrant. The municipality has also seen how in recent decades its population was fired almost 200%, going from just 15,000 inhabitants to the more than 40,000 current ones, a “boom” that, which, that, remember The countryhas come accompanied by a generation of foreign parents born in Spain that finds difficulties to integrate. “They are foreigners at home and Moors on the street,” Explain to the newspaper The Professor of Sociology Paulino Ros.

Images | Torre Pacheco City Council, AGC Civil Guard (X) and National Jucil (X)

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