Spanish state

Racist riots in Murcia

Thursday 24 July 2025, by Irene García Galán


Torre Pacheco, a Spanish town of 40,000 inhabitants located in the province of Murcia, has become the scene of large-scale racist violence since 12 July. Organized far-right groups are going there from all over the country to carry out veritable manhunts for North African men, and more particularly Moroccans. It is reminiscent of the images that came to us from the United Kingdom a few months ago.


This situation follows brutal attack on a retired man, Domingo, on 9 July. He went to file a complaint at the police station, while waiting for the justice system to do its job. He was then very far from imagining that his ordeal would be massively instrumentalized by reactionary political movements. Far-right influencers and politicians used their networks to spread the rumour, without any evidence, that the attack was carried out by Moroccan men.

Far right attacks

There was no need for more, in a country where racism is structural and violence against racialized and migrant people is a daily occurrence, for dozens of fascists to go and sow terror in the small town, in the name of defending civilization. Domingo’s own wife has spoken out publicly to demand an end to the violence. 15 July 2025 was the fourth consecutive day of racist violence carried out in an organized manner in the streets of Torre Pacheco.

Ironically, the video of the attack released by the same far-right activists actually corresponds to another attack that took place in May in Almería against another elderly man. The victim, who was sleeping on the street at the time and is openly gay, spoke out to put the truth back at the centre, and it was then that we learned that his attack had been committed by white men of Spanish nationality, two of whom had already been arrested, and that the attack had homophobic and anti-social motivations. Profiles therefore rather close to the fascists sharing this video.

PP-Vox coalition promotes racism

For several days, raids have been taking place, especially at night, leaving a foretaste of what awaits us if we do not radically end the racism that is rampant throughout our society. Organized men in packs, who roam the streets of the city armed, create terror within the targeted communities. Businesses owned by North African men are also targeted, such as a kebab shop whose CCTV footage shows about 20 men wearing helmets breaking everything with batons in a matter of seconds.

This situation coincides with the launch of a new racist political campaign, propelled by the far-right Vox party, which calls for the deportation of several million migrants from the Spanish state. And it should also be noted that for months, the regional government of Murcia, in the PP-Vox coalition, has been stirring up hatred towards migrant, racialized and Muslim populations, thus cultivating fertile ground for the racist violent outbursts that we are witnessing today.

The racist riots were orchestrated via far-right Telegram channels, such as “Deport them now Spain,” which has since been closed, while the man suspected of being its leader was arrested by the police. To date, a dozen people have been arrested and more than 120 have been identified by the police. The prefecture of Murcia has also opened an investigation against José Ángel Antelo, leader of Vox in the region of Murcia, for hate crimes.

Left governments also responsible

While part of the white left is tempted to point to the Spanish right and far right as being at the origin of this violence, it is important to remember that this hatred towards racialized people, migrants and Muslims, is also fuelled by the political measures introduced by successive left-wing coalition governments. We are thinking of the anti-immigration laws, the violence carried out at the borders by the Spanish police, and particularly scenes such as the massacre in Melilla on June 24, 2022, the repression of street vendors, the constant humiliation of the Spanish administration towards the applicants for papers.

Racism, Islamophobia and hatred of migrants are not only the prerogative of the far right. People like the interior minister, Marlaska, under the Socialist Party government, are just as responsible as the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal. In the face of racist violence, in all its forms, the construction of a radically decolonial and anti-racist front is necessary.

17 July 2025

Translated by International Viewpoint from l’Anticapitaliste.

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Irene García Galán


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