Editor's Blog July 05th 2012
Spanish Hostilities Continue…
During the course of the last couple of months, Gibraltar has seen a whole new level of Spanish hostility against the average person on the street. Forget the outright illegal activities of the Spanish fishermen, who are clearly being ordered by the Partido Popular to operate in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.
No, I can’t forget it. Even as recently as this morning, Guardia Civil and a single Clam Boat have been carrying out their activities, with an impunity reserved only for those with a sense of entitlement.
While the politicians do what they do best, which is pumping their jaws, spewing verbal sewage and little else, the state of affairs remain as they have been. There is however a sinister turn on the dispute.
At YGTV we get daily reports of Gibraltarians being harassed and in some cases assaulted, both in Gibraltar and in Spain. Starting with the case of Mr Felix Alvarez and the indignation he suffered at the hands of the Guardia Civil whilst crossing the border.
Its been a list of incidents that, had they occurred in the UK, people would be calling it racial abuse. Children being booed at sporting events, cars being spray-painted, pissed on and windscreens broken. The list is getting bigger by the day, only last night there was an alleged assault on young Gibraltarians at the BP petrol Station by a group of Spaniards.
Our neighbours from across the border skulk around Laguna and Glacis Estates, aggravating the tenants with their continued tobacco smuggling activities, which they do very little to hide. In fact, last Friday a couple of Spaniards in their forties offered a Laguna Tenant a lot of money so they could store Cartons of cigarettes in the lock up sheds and got angry when told to go away. It was only because a few neighbours came down, and showed unity in the face of aggression, that they backed down and left.
The worst scenes were the ones I saw on a video, sent to us by a member of the public, which showed Spanish football fans accosting Gibraltar registered cars entering Gibraltar on the night of the European cup final. To a young family with children on board, this would have been a fearful experience and totally permitted by The Guardia Civil on what is known as Una Zona Franca.
It is rare that I call upon those, whom my and your taxes keep in a job, to do anything. As I trust our politicians and security services to do the right thing, but lately I have been having second thoughts.
In my opinion nothing is being done. The fishing continues, the smuggling continues and the assaults continue. When are we going to grow some balls and take the hardest line we can take with this behaviour?
When cornered, even the smallest of animals will bite back. Will it take serious injury or a death before the powers that be take a stance?
I have rarely had a problem, but then again, I weigh a lean 178lb and look meaner than a junkyard dog (so I have been told). I also have a stare that can make a Sphinx avert its gaze.
No, my concern is for the old, the young and those that cannot defend themselves from the outright hate that is sometimes displayed by some of our neighbours.
Ed.
