billgates

attack_victim_tells_of_spanish_nightmare.php

Lots of issues in this story -

1. Racism
2. Lack of police action
3. Spanish locals clamming up
4. Construction industry out of control
5. Lack of natural resources and essential services
6. British ghettos
7. Personal relationships
8. Impact on children dragged out of school
9. Moving back to uk not that easy

jeanc

Scarey stuff!!

Relampago

What terrible. Tonight I don't sleep!

brisca

A very sad story

Seems very difficult to imagine that a large group of people would suddenly "attack" out of the blue??

I have some sympathy with local people and their concerns about their country being "over run" by foreigners. After all, British people complain about the very same thing!

However, that doesn't excuse this reported behaviour.
It sounds like it's going to be a hard slog for that family to rebuild their lives in the UK

marisol

Hello
i feel ashamed when i read something like that at being Spanish. Please, don't think all the spaniards are similar. Unfortunately this happens in all over the world.

lcortez

I am inclined to agree with the above poster.Things like this just dont happen"out of the blue",that 40 people would suddenly decide to attack one family is not plausible,there must have been prior povocation,and why just them?
However I would agree that there are definate signs of resentment against foreigners,and for some reason Brits in particularIt is true that a lot of Brits dont realise they are being insulted,or being given poor service etc(long delays for paperwork etc)purely owing to them being foreign, due to poor language skills
Having said that,none of the above can ever be an excuse for the sort of behaviour outlined

Beachcomber

It may be just a coincidence but a very similar incident in the same area was described on another forum some time ago.

Curiously no-one else who lived in the area had heard about it, had not been aware of anything untoward happening in the area and nothing appeared in the local press at the time.

This may, I repeat may, be just another example of not allowing the facts to stand in the way of a good story.

lcortez

Very possibly,maybe something DID happen on a much smaller scale but was hyped up out of all proportion (surely not)
Still very bad for the family involved though.

spain

very sad and could just be a case of "wrong place wrong time" as happened to my husband

he suffered a similar fate when we were on a family holiday one year in Lanzarote

For no reason a 30-40 group of men jumped out of vans a beat him up, with the local "security" standing by. Although he had to go to hospital with a suspected fractured skull he was lucky just to have badly bruised. When we reported it to the holiday rep she said it had happened a few times recently

brisca

OMG!!!!!

What a terrifying experience for you and your family

I hope your poor husband didn't suffer any lasting injury?

Obviously, one incident doesn't mean that everyone in that country is bad - but you apparently didn't let it put you off moving to Spain. Good on you

brisca

Please don't feel you have to apolgise for the behaviour of a minority of your countrymen.


Unfortunately, as British people, we have an all too good realisation that there are yobs within every culture.
You only have to read the BBC website and shake your head in disbelief

Reading posts on this forum, it seems that the vasy majority of people who have moved to Spain, are extremely happy with their new lives, new friends and neighbours

Beachcomber

Perhaps I could relate the details of an incident which occurred a while ago in a small inland village near to where I live.

The teenage son of a friend was severely beaten by a group of men in their forties and fifties for no apparent reason and suffered a broken jaw and other serious injuries which left him hospitalised for several weeks.

No-one was arrested for this assault as he was unable to identify the assailants other than their nationality. He has recently come out of hospital but his self-confidence has been completely shattered and for some time he was even afraid to leave the house.

The relationship between villagers and the few long-term foreign residents has always been cordial and friendly but this incident understandably caused considerable friction between the more recent influx of foreigners and the villagers which has still not healed.

Oh, by the way, the teenager was Spanish and the offenders British.

brisca

Oh, poor lad!
No wonder he's lost all his self confidence; he must be very traumatised by those awful events.

It does make you wonder just what enters some people's minds - that they can behave so atrociously, without a single thought of the consequences of their actions on the rest of the victim's life

Understandably, realtionships in that village are going to be damaged for a long time to come.
How very sad for everyone.

Relampago

What mania (or pathological hate) in generalizing has the british press to Spain. For blame of some few, we all are guilty. This is as absurd as to think that all the British are dangerous soccer hooligans

lcortez

I dont think the British Press, or media in general has a problem with Spain, I have seen some reports that are very complimentary to Spain.You have to bear in mind that it is often owing to media coverage here that many Brits emigrate to Spain.
However, as was stated by a previous poster in this thread,they rarely let the facts get in the way of a good story,particularly with regard to Europe.