Friday 22 July 2011

Spanish boos and insults in Gibraltar itself

Many people in Gibraltar are up in arms on having heard that Spanish people attending the Eurodance Show at the Tercentenary Hall booed and insulted Gibraltar and Gibraltarian participants in the event. This comes hot on the heels of the problems faced by young footballers when parading the Gibraltar flag at a football tournament in Costa Blanca - they had the Gibraltar flag taken away from them.

'HERMANAMIENTO'

With the Foreign Office and the Opposition having reacted strongly to what happened at the children's football tournament, people are asking where is the Gibraltar Government. Well, the culture minister Edwin Reyes and the mayor Anthony Lombard will be attending at the La Linea fair this evening the twinning of Gibraltar with La Linea, what the Spanish call an act of 'hermanamiento.'

It had been thought that the Chief Minister Peter Caruana was to have attended as well but so far there is no news from the La Linea municipality that he will make an appearance. The municipality says that at the event taking place there this evening the "Gibraltar Sea Scouts, Show Dance group Company and Santos Academy" will be taking part during the twinning ceremony.

Meanwhile, in his popular Facebook page, Bryan Zammit Snr writes: "Some more bad news regarding Spaniards and their attitude towards us. I was told today that in the European Dance championship held in Gib, Spaniards walked out when our national anthem was being played. I was also told that they were also booing when Gibraltarians received prizes. Now that’s in our own country and no one did anything."

Another person said that whenever Gibraltar holds an event or participates in an event there needs to be an agreement signed by each faction. The agreement would stipulate that racism, anti-sporting behaviour such as insulting or degrading another country will equate in that respective team being given a ban from participating.

They can boo and disrespect our wonderful dancers as much as they want, they still did an amazing job, said someone else.

Mr Zammit himself added: "What we are discussing in this post is...How on earth did Spaniards get away with:

1. Getting up and walking out of the stadium while our National Anthem was being played?

2. How did they get away with booing Gibraltarians while they were receiving their prizes?

3. How did they get away by shouting Gibraltar Espanol in our stadium in front of a packed house of Gibraltarians?

4. And finally. How on earth has it managed to keep out of the newspapers and TV? Who gave instructions for it not to come out in the open?"

One person insisted that nothing had happened and it was all an exaggeration.

Another person explained: I spoke to a gentleman who told me that a local child was waving a Gib flag during the Dance Championships and that a Spanish adult spectator had started waving the Spanish flag and made it a point of making contact between the flag pole he was waving and the local kid on two occasions... approached the Spaniard ...Security came and asked the Spaniards to stick to their side of the stands where they were sitting and not interfere with the other spectators. This sort of thing happened all weekend.

Another person said: I was also at the European showdance championships all weekend and did see the intent on the Spanish to try and provoke and also boo Gibraltar whenever possible.

And another comment: With this behaviour no wonder que quien iba a ser el guapo de poner the Spanish flag in The Instituto Cervantes! Respect is not an entitlement you must earn it! With this cynical behaviour towards children all they are doing is widening the gap in good neighbourly relationship with Spain again, instead of doing the contrary!

Joseph L.Caruana adds: "What happened in Benidorm was disgraceful and how the Spanish team in the Show dance competition behaved whilst in Gibraltar shows how mistaken has been GoG's soft policy, the Tripartite Forum, the Air Terminal, the Pensions, the Guardia Civil incursions(s) etc, etc,

And another: The GoG, what are they going to do now?

5 comments:

  1. Suggestions for the Government of Gibraltar.

    1. Don't take it lying down. Feeble comments and woolly apologies are not sufficient. Demand reparations. How about a million pounds in respect of each event?

    2. Deal with Spanish thugs as other countries deal with soccer thugs. Arrest them, take their details and ban them from Gibraltar. Permanently.

    3. Reconsider taking part in any events held in Spain. If it is decided to attend, send a suitable security force as well. Ensure that they understand that their task is to prevent interference with Gibraltarian sports people and the Gibraltarian flag.

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  2. muscletongue300022 July 2011 at 15:22

    the spanish seem to love occupying whatever land takes their fancy. when are they going to return Ceuta and melilla and goat island to their rightful owners?

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  3. muscletongue300022 July 2011 at 15:24

    do as i say and not as i do.
    when is spain going to return ceuta and melilla and goat island to their rightful owners!?!?!?!

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  4. This sort of behaviour can one day spark a major issue in an international event. I cannot understand how some local clubs play in spanish leagues. We are so different to them, we should distant oueselves even further, and I agree that this behaviour should be stopped and thugs arrested and band, like they do in the UK. Keeping quiet & doing nothing is not the solution, because it will happen again. What they are doing is provoking the Gibraltarians and insulting our identity.

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  5. "We are so different to them, we should distant oueselves even further"

    Not really an attitude you would want to instil in your children.

    Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.

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