Jul 01 - Defenders Of Gibraltar Meet With Lidington
The Defenders of Gibraltar met yesterday with the Minister for Europe David Lidington. ACSTEG, For A Humanitarian Border and VOGG were also present.The Defenders of Gibraltar expressed their concerns regarding the continued harassment and bullying of Gibraltarians and cross frontier workers by the Spanish Government. The group explained that not enough was being done from a UK perspective to rein in Spain, adding that the the effect of this “fence-sitting” was beginning to affect “our economy and way of life.”
On the subject of illegal incursions and maritime security, the group believes that the UK is giving Spain the impression of being apathetic about the Spanish Government’s “ever daring incursions and illegal actions” in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters. Representatives from the group went on to explain that they expected the same action against illegal incursions as would be taken were they to occur in Cornwall or the Falkland Islands.
A spokesperson for the group continued: “Sadly, this point was particularly relevant today given the theft of one of the reef blocks by a Spanish Group from BGTW. We explained that the UK had failed Gibraltar, as this issue was clearly not only a crime, but a clear breach of security, for which the UK is constitutionally responsible.
“We pressed our belief that Gibraltar is still a Naval Port, and the ease with which this Spanish group conducted their brazen activities could very easily encourage other more extremist groups to conduct actions in and around Gibraltar.”
