Oct 01 - Government Condemns Spain's 'Hatred Against Gibraltarians' - Commissions Investigation into Spanish Incitement to Hatred
The Government has insisted that it takes a very serious view of the campaign of hostility against Gibraltar and its people, which continues in Spain.
This follows a series of irresponsible and untrue accusations made by Ministers and officials of the Spanish state against Gibraltar, which have in turn predictably been exaggerated further by certain sectors of the Spanish media and have now sparked off a climate of hatred against Gibraltarians.
The video of a school play in which a group of students symbolically pretended to capture Gibraltar and shoot dead its inhabitants is but the latest example of the climate that has been generated in Spain over the last eight weeks. Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Joseph Garcia insists that it is a reflection of the negative attitude that has been encouraged to build up against Gibraltar in Spain as a consequence of the actions and statements made by their Government.
He adds, 'it will be recalled that this has also seen Gibraltarian-registered vehicles damaged and torched on the other side of the border as well as insults and abuse hurled at people, purely and simply because they come from Gibraltar'.
A No 6 Convent Place statement today noted that, ‘these reactions are the responsibility of the Spanish Government who are primarily responsible for the consequences of the statements that they make. Moreover, the Spanish Government should immediately publicly reject and condemn the video and all the other acts of aggression and hostility and defamations, which have been endured by Gibraltarians. The Spanish state is also obliged by international conventions to investigate incidents of hate speech and hate crime generally’.
Commenting on the matter, Dr. Joseph Garcia noted that Government lawyers were working with a private practice in order to gather information necessary to file complaints against Spanish individuals responsible for ‘propagation of the current climate of anti- Gibraltarian hatred through the appropriate legal channels.’ Dr. Garcia added, ‘media articles over the last few weeks, as well as statements made by Spanish Ministers, officials and commentators on Spanish channels, are being reviewed and interrogated for the purposes of identifying incidents of incitement to hatred. The Government will leave no stone unturned to ensure that those responsible for the illegal campaign against Gibraltar are exposed and made to account for their inexcusable behavior.’
