Spain harassing Gibraltar (again)

Morpheus77

Morpheus77

Morpheus77

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Joined
12 Sep 2012
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21
Location
Gibraltar
A few days ago the Gibraltar government created an artificial reef. These reefs are often made up of old ships which are stripped of contaminants and sunk intentionally, or of concrete blocks with holes and metal bars. This is an environmental measure which is aimed at giving corals something to grow on, provide refuge to fish, and more importantly prevent drag net fishing which is illegal and harmful to the seabed.

Spain has taken exception at this (even though they have created 50+ of exactly the same type of reef for the same reasons).

Their revenge is to slow down traffic at the border for all cars trying to leave Gibraltar, slowly checking each and every car. Waiting in the border queue can ordinarily take anywhere between 5 minutes to an hour at peak times. Right now, they are over 6 hours long, with cars causing gridlock as the tailback of traffic reaches all main roads in Gibraltar.

All kinds of people are spending these 6 hours in the heat of summer, including children and elderly, diabetic people becoming hypoglycemic, etc.

The irony is that the majority of people in the queue are Spanish. Up to 10,000 Spaniards cross into Gibraltar daily, because they work here. The government is doing this to hurt Gibraltar's tourist industry, but they don't even care about hurting their own people in the process.

The Gibraltar Government and voluntary people are giving water to people waiting in the queue and dealing with emergencies.

I think it's time the UK Government takes some action. Gibraltarians are British Citizens. Gibraltar is UK land.
 
whats the saying, keep people in the left hand so they ignore whats happening in the right as you steal there wallet.
Spain is in trouble and there trying to get the public attention away from it and instead digging up the old chestnut, bit like Argentina.
 
Distraction politics, nothing more.

If we do anything it simply adds pressure on the UK to negotiate somehow, which we shouldn't be doing. Ignore it, they are doing what they want on their soil, not in Gibraltar.
 
Exactly. But we are used to that in Gibraltar. Basically the Spanish Government traditionally uses two things to distract the public. Sports success and conjuring up patriotism over Gibraltar.

The actual reef had to be laid with a Royal Navy ship and local Police boats protecting the tug boat that was doing the job from the Spanish paramilitary police boats who were intent on stopping the work.

They actually claim that Gibraltar has no territorial waters, because, get this, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht where they gave Gibraltar to the UK in perpetuity did not mention territorial waters. But the very concept of territorial waters did not exist in 1713! The concept was made international law many years later, and ALL territories were given 3 or 12 miles (depending on what they wish to claim).

Gibraltar only claims 3 miles, and still they send fleets of fishermen into our waters daily, escorted by their Police, to force the issue to make the news and spin it into patriotic crap.

http://www.gibnet.com/fish/waters.gif
 
big_white_dog84 said:
As you say, most people affected are Spanish - so really they should be pressuring their own government.
Click to expand...

Yes, and some are, but many others believe the spin. Also it hurts us to have such a problematic border. Tourists can be put off, and that is important to our economy. Plus try living in 3 square miles of land only being able to leave it by plane or ship. Gibraltarians also help the economy in the area because we do a lot of our shopping and leisure outings there. When things are smooth both Gibraltar and the surrounding towns in Spain are good for each others' economy. But politicians in Madrid obviously don't give a **** about the south of Spain.
 
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It seems the ruling right wing party in Spain wants to emulate General Franco. He actually closed the border for 13 years. We were prisoners in our own land. Those years though strengthened our identity and resolve to never give in to Spain's claim over Gibraltar.
 
Morpheus77 said:
Exactly. But we are used to that in Gibraltar. Basically the Spanish Government traditionally uses two things to distract the public. Sports success and conjuring up patriotism over Gibraltar.

The actual reef had to be laid with a Royal Navy ship and local Police boats protecting the tug boat that was doing the job from the Spanish paramilitary police boats who were intent on stopping the work.

They actually claim that Gibraltar has no territorial waters, because, get this, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht where they gave Gibraltar to the UK in perpetuity did not mention territorial waters. But the very concept of territorial waters did not exist in 1713! The concept was made international law many years later, and ALL territories were given 3 or 12 miles (depending on what they wish to claim).

Gibraltar only claims 3 miles, and still they send fleets of fishermen into our waters daily, escorted by their Police, to force the issue to make the news and spin it into patriotic crap.
Click to expand...
Funnily enough when the Spanish police escorting fishermen into Gib waters came up from a Gib poster here last year (can't remember if it was you Morpheus) I put my pen where my mouth was and sent an email to my local MP asking that the UK government and Royal Navy take action to protect our fishermen. I actually got a reply that the MP had asked the Foreign secretary to look again at what was happening and the restrictions the Royal Navy vessels were working under (HMS Sabre?).

I figured it was the least I could do and whilst I'm under no misapprehension anything changed at least the question got asked and I got a response. If any of the community here feels strongly we should support our Gib members I can heartily recommend a quick email/letter to your local MP. Make the buggers work for their money and ask what the UK governments response to this harassment is.
 
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+1 to nuking atm. Proper dictatorship tactics from a "democratic" one.

My more reasonable reply is on that other thread down below, or on page 2 by now...
 
I've just watched episode 6 of Gibralter In The Sun which has been an excellent fly on the wall documentary.
If you can get hold of it Morpheus you'll probably know all the main characters in it.
 
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