The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns the attack on the agents and “categorically” rejects the statement by the British Government in which it calls the event a “very serious violation” of its sovereignty
In the last few hours, diplomatic tension between Spain and Gibraltar has risen as a result of the incident that took place this Thursday on a beach in Línea de la Concepción. Two agents of the Customs Surveillance Service (SVA) were seriously injured after being stoned to death by tobacco dealers on a beach in La Línea, in Cádiz, whom they intended to hunt down. While Gibraltar on Friday branded the intervention of the agents a “very serious violation” of its sovereignty, the Spanish Government -specifically, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs- denied that the area near Gibraltar where the events occurred is British sovereignty.
But while the United Kingdom considers that it is the “most serious and dangerous incident for many years” in the area, the Ministry led by José Manuel Albares, who has condemned the “aggression suffered” by members of Customs, “categorically” rejected the terms of the joint statement issued by representatives of the British Government in relation to the incident. He also did the same with “the claims to an alleged British sovereignty over the territory and waters of Gibraltar collected” in the note issued by the Rock authorities.
As stated by the Governments of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom, this intervention “would constitute a very serious breach of the law” in the case of “confirming that Spanish officials fired their weapons in Gibraltar”, in addition to considering it an “reckless and dangerous” action in an area -as they stressed- “with a high density of civilian population, given the proximity of a residential development.” In this way, they advance that they will ask Spain for explanations for the incident before making, they continue, “a final decision on the measures to be adopted.”
For the Executive chaired by Pedro Sánchez, this statement “is especially incomprehensible” at a time when Spain “has put an agreement on the table to create an area of shared prosperity.” “The Government of Spain demands effective measures to fight against smuggling that harms the entire area and wishes the Spanish agents their wishes for a speedy recovery,” the statement published this Friday ended.
The state of the sea and the inertia caused the agents’ boat to be stranded on the Levante del Peñón beach in full pursuit. Thus, while the two agents were stranded, several dozen people harassed them and attacked them in an attack with large stones that lasted six minutes. Such was the situation that, as reported by this newspaper, the agents came to ask their own attackers for help, although without success.
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