SPAIN: Police presence defuses calls for racist rallies in Madrid suburb of Alcorcon

Authorities were on high alert after a new text message called for another show of force, following rioting last week. The presence of Spanish riot police in the Madrid suburb of Alcorcon imposed relative calm in the area on Saturday night (January 27). Some 300 riot police patrolled the suburb and dispersed small groups of teenagers after riots erupted on the scene last Sunday (January 21) between Central and South American immigrants who fought against young Spaniards. It didn't take much to spark violence in Alcorcon, an anonymous dormitory town of apartments blocks south of Madrid. About 1,000 young Spaniards had taken to the streets, hunting immigrants they blamed for a stabbing the previous night (January 20). Locals say a squabble between two adolescent girls led to a fight and the arrival of knife-wielding Latinos to the aid of one Dominican. By the end of the night, several had been stabbed including one innocent bystander, six times in the back. Text messages calling for revenge went out and young Spaniards mobbed the town centre, stoned police and torched bins. Spain's media have seized on the incident as a possible sign of growing xenophobia in a country that up to now has avoided much of the racial tension seen elsewhere in Europe but which is increasingly worried about the growth of Latino gangs. The riot was not the first violent backlash against migrants in a country where foreign residents have jumped to 9 percent of the population from nominal levels in 1990. Latin Americans, who account for almost 40 percent of all Spain's immigrants, usually integrate quickly into Spanish society thanks to shared language and culture.

ITN Source | January 28, 2007

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