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Date Published: 10/03/2023

ARCHIVED - Foreigners incensed at sweeping racist comments by San Javier police chief

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The San Javier official seemed to link those who don’t have residency status with robberies and organised crime

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Foreigners incensed at sweeping racist comments by San Javier police chief

A coalition of Murcia organisations, including the Friends of Ritsona, PAREM, Murcia Acoge and Convivir sin Racismo (Living Together without Racism) migrant and refugee associations, have filed an official complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office against the chief of the San Javier Policía Local, José Tomás, for an alleged hate crime.

They accuse the officer of racism after he made comments in which he linked crime with immigration, which they say lead to “humiliation, contempt and discredit for vulnerable groups”.

Specifically, Chief Tomás stated on TV Mar Menor last month, “Most crimes tend to be immigration; there are few nationals. Look at the statistics. The traditional system of the crime that formerly existed in towns no longer exists. Now we have organised gangs that come over here, who do not have documentation, are not on the census, who are illegal… and they are the ones who commit the robberies and then leave. In the Levante area, between 200 and 250 [such] gangs are dismantled every year.”

The organisations allege that these statements “made by a police officer and public servant, are particularly serious and harmful”.

“There is specific legislation to protect the dignity of people and fight against the spread of these offensive statements that undermine the most basic values of coexistence and respect.”

The official complaint against the police chief’s comments come just as officers conducted a wide-sweeping operation against illegal immigration on Thursday night that ended up with nine people being arrested in San Javier. Armed forces conducted raids on five bars in the municipality to locate foreigners who don’t have residence permits and possible involvement in gangs that smuggle people into the country illegally.

The majority of the arrests were made in a bar in the Torres Blancas neighbourhood, which is mostly frequented by foreigners of North African origin. The detainees have been transferred to Cartagena Police Station to check their identities and begin the process of returning them to their countries of origin.

From now on, these raids and preventive searches will be carried out on a monthly basis by the National Police and the Guardia Civil, in a plan to detect illegal migrants in San Javier and take down possible organised criminal gangs involved in human trafficking.

Image: Policía Local San Javier

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