Spain's Deputy Prime Minister, Yolanda Díaz, has condemned anti-migrant violence in Torre Pacheco, in the southern part of the country, calling on the country's parliamentary assembly to urgently pass a law for the regularization of 500,000 immigrants in the country.
Spain's deputy prime minister and labor minister, Yolanda Diaz, on July 16 called for "decisive action" to halt anti-immigrant violence in the Spanish city of Torre Pacheco after four days of clashes between North African immigrants and far-right activists, as well as protests by residents.
In an interview with public broadcaster Tve, Diaz also called for the "urgent passing" in Spain's Congress of a law to regularize 500,000 immigrants in the country.
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Deputy PM accuses PP of inciting far-right
The deputy prime minister accused the conservative People's Party (PP) of "inciting the far-right", which was allegedly behind the protests and clashes in Torre Pacheco.
"The irresponsibility of the PP is enormous. You should not say in an interview, as [PP secretary] Mr Tellado did, that Vox is a state party. It is not. Vox is outside the constitutional mandate," she said in reference to a pledge to deport all illegal immigrants and those legal residents who have committed crimes made by the leader of the far-right party, Santiago Abascal.
Diaz urged the PP not to cooperate with the party under Abascal but instead to encourage democracy and choose "which side to be on", claiming that the far-right would not get into government.
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Migrants foster income and job rise in Torre Pacheco
Torre Pacheco, about 30 kilometers from Murcia, an agricultural area in south-eastern Spain, is a town in which about 30 percent of the population is of foreign origin. The pro capita annual income rose from 23,000 to 30,000 euros, and unemployment dropped from 13.4 to 7.1 percent over the past five years.
The Cadena Sur radio station noted that these figures are available on the official website of the regional government and that they highlight a situation in marked contrast with what has been described in anti-migrant narratives launched by extreme parties and movements, including Vox in recent weeks.
Among the most widely cited arguments is that of alleged links between immigration and lowered levels of public security.
In the case of Torre Pacheco, between the first quarter of 2024 and the same period this year, most crimes involving theft or robbery dropped, while ones involving attempted homicide (from one to four), lesions or brawling (from three to seven), and sexual crimes (from one to five) grew, according to interior ministry data.