For its part, the Spanish Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on the customs officials, who were seriously injured.
(Photo: IMAGO/Jochen Eckel)
Madrid After an incident involving Spanish customs officials in Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory has made serious allegations against the government in Madrid. “The evidence surrounding the incident shows a blatant violation of British sovereignty and possibly the most serious and dangerous incident in many years,” Gibraltar Prime Minister Fabian Picardo said on Friday.
Gibraltar has yet to verify the facts before making a decision on diplomatic responses. “However, the events indicate that the behavior of the Spanish officials is intolerable.” There is an accusation that the customs officers fired shots on the territory of Gibraltar.
According to Spanish media reports, two customs officials were hunting tobacco smugglers when their boat went on strike. Stones were thrown at them and they were injured on a beach in Gibraltar. The smugglers can be seen in a video published on the website of the newspaper “El Pais”.
They shout at the officers: “This is Gibraltar, this is not your job!” In other videos on social media, shots are fired during the argument. But it remains unclear by whom.
The Government of Gibraltar has said that if it were confirmed that Spanish officials fired shots in Gibraltar it would be “a very serious breach of the law and also very reckless and dangerous”. The Governments of Gibraltar and Britain would scrutinize a diplomatic response.
For its part, the Spanish Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on the customs officials, who were seriously injured. The Ministry not only rejected Gibraltar’s statement on the incident, but also Britain’s claims to sovereignty over the territory at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. Spain has long demanded the return of Gibraltar, which it ceded to Britain in 1713.
Britain and Gibraltar are currently struggling to reach a post-Brexit treaty on the territory’s status and future control of the border with Spain. The peninsula was left out of the UK’s exit agreement from the EU. As recently as mid-January, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told the Reuters news agency that the governments in Madrid and London were very close to an agreement.
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