Spain has seen several nights of ethnic violence between locals and migrant communities after an elderly Spaniard was attacked.
On July 9, a group of migrants allegedly attacked a 68-old man walking by a graveyard early in the morning in the municipality of Torre Pacheco and filmed it.
The unknown assailants then posted their attack on social media.
It sparked a strong reaction among local youths who sought to avenge it.
BREAKING:
The first two people arrested for beating up an elderly man in Torre Pacheco “for fun” are illegal Moroccan immigrants aged 21 and 22.
They are charged with concealment and failure to render assistance, as they did not directly hit him, but recorded and encouraged the… pic.twitter.com/yKo9h9LwvF
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 14, 2025
Although some clips showed a person crouching on the floor, injured and afraid, looking like the victim, those were from another incident, the victim from Torre-Pacheco told the police.
Another video surfacing online was of a Russian-speaking couple in their car being attacked allegedly by apparently drunk North Africans.
According to Spanish media, the perpetrators of the attack in Torre-Pacheco were allegedly Moroccans.
“When I went for a walk, I had my watch and house keys on me and that young man didn’t even take my watch: He only hit me to hurt me,” the pensioner told news outlet El Español.
His wife said that in the town, the theory was that the youngsters attacked people as part of a so-called “happy slapping” challenge.
Spaniards took to the streets, some armed with clubs, to allegedly look for people with migrant backgrounds. Many of those locals reportedly were connected to the football supporter scene, the so-called “ultras”.
North Africans also rallied, feeling targeted and going on a counteroffensive. The unrest spread to various places in the region.
Several fights and skirmishes occurred, leading to at least five people being injured, according to the media.
4 Moroccans armed with iron bars, arrested in Torre-Pacheco trying to set up a barricade.
pic.twitter.com/77emAaXTJ7— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) July 13, 2025
Due to the violence, the police presence in the region was increased via a special security operation, the delegate of the Spanish central government in the region of Murcia, Mariola Guevara said.
Spain has seen a rise in migration, spurred by the national government, which claimed that the country needed them for economic reasons. Many people, though, claimed the increase in migration has cost them more than benefited. They also noted a rise in crime and nuisance.
This has increased anti-migration sentiments. José Ángel Antelo, local president of the anti-mass migration party Vox, called for deportations. “We don’t want people like this in our country,” he said.
“We don’t want Torre Pacheco to become the Molenbeek of the Murcia Region,” he said, referring to the troubled Brussels neighbourhood of working-class, predominantly migrant communities, mostly of Moroccan (mainly Riffian and Berber) descent.
“In Spain, people come to work, to create jobs, and to contribute to our economy—not to steal, commit crimes, rape, murder, or target our elderly in twisted acts of violence recorded and shared on social media among Maghrebi groups,” Ángel Antelo said.
Over the weekend of July 12-13, six people were arrested, five with Spanish nationality and one of Maghreb origin.
Authorities stressed there was zero tolerance for violence or racism.
A young Moroccan migrant waves a Moroccan flag and yells at the Spanish locals in Torre Pacheco in south-eastern Spain to stop hiding behind the police and come out to fight him and his gang of Moroccans.
Ethnic clashes have been taking place in the city for 4 days 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/6vkDIPDhRG
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 13, 2025
