SPANISH POLICE FIRE ON MIGRANTS IN THE WATER – GOVERNMENT LIES

Last week (6 February) a group of about 400 African migrants made an attempt to enter Spain at the border crossing in Ceuta, one of two Spanish enclaves in North Africa. The group had initially attempted to cross by land but were repelled, after which some later made an attempt to swim the short distance around.

 

The Guardia Civil fired rubber bullets and gas canisters at them in the water, killing at least 11 and maybe 15, and then lied about it, repeatedly.

 

Lie 1a. “We did not fire on them”

The Guardia Civil initially denied firing the migrants in the water. After multiple witnesses, most from among the group of migrants, maintained that the Guardia Civil had indeed fired rubber bullets and gas canisters, Minister Fernández Díaz, a daily communicant who was born again after a vision he experienced while in Las Vegas, admitted that the police had indeed used riot material, but only “to warn them off” or to “mark the border”, and never fired directly at people in the water.

Lie 1b. “Ok, so, yeah, we fired at them, but in self defence, because they had sticks and stones and were aggressive and we were scared”

Aggressive swimmers. Right. Swimming belligerently. With sticks and stones. While the second part, the suddenly day-time part, of the video released by the Guardia Civil does a small group throwing stones, this was afterwards¸ when they were justifiably incensed by having been shot at and having seen their buddies die. The Moroccan police, on this occasion at least seemingly less brutal than their Spanish counterparts, allowed the Africans to recover the body of their fallen companions. They lifted them in the air in homage, after which a small number of the group threw stones at the border fence which, in any case, is between the stone throwers and the agents, who were therefore not in any danger.

 

Lie 2. “The swimmers were not wearing flotation aids”

Against accusations that the Guardia Civil had fired at flotation aids worn by the swimmers, presumably to puncture them, the minister responded that none of the group were wearing flotation aids. However, videos of the event, including the “not-manipulated” video made public by the Guardia Civil clearly show members of the group wearing inflated inner tyres around their waists (see video, Lie 4).

 

Lie 3. “There is no video of the events because there are no security cameras at that point”

There are, obviously, security cameras at the crossing. And the Guardia Civil later made public a video taken by their own official cameras (see video, Lie 4)

 

Lie 4. “Our video depicts the events accurately and has not been in any way manipulated”

The video made public by the Guardia Civil shows the first attempt by the group to enter by land, and pans directly to an angry group throwing rocks at the frontier fence, omitting several hours of what occurred in between. It is so obviously manipulated that it goes directly from night to day (min 2.09).

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HimMl-6X_SM

 

Lie 5. “None of the group actually reached Spanish soil”

Spanish migration laws do not allow for the immediate return of migrants once they have reached Spanish soil, although migrants can be turned back at the border. The minister initially maintained that none of the group had reached Spanish soil. When video was made public showing a group of 8 migrants reaching the beach, watched, by the way, by a group of armed Guardia Civil agents, who made no attempt to aid them, the minister back tracked and said that the Spanish border does not begin at the shoreline, but rather at the line of Guardia Civil agents. According to this absolutely novel theory of frontier elasticity, the migrants had not reached Spain until they got past the police line. This means that delivering them back to Morocco was not an illegal immediate return, but rather a totally legal border turn back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkXkGlXwKe8#t=45

(In this video two witnesses also tell how they saw the Guardia Civil fire on people in the water, and a Cameroonese migrants tells how they had rubber bullets and gas cannisters fired at them). 

 

If your Spanish is up to it, the following accounts are very thorough: 

 

The many lies about the tragedy in Ceuta Eldiario.es

More lies Cadena Ser – contains several videos