El Ejido riots

From 5 to 7 February 2000, the Spanish town of El Ejido in the province of Almería experienced race riots against its Moroccan agricultural workers. The rioting was triggered by the recent murders of two Spanish men and a Spanish woman by two separate Moroccan individuals. The rioting was described at the time as the worst incidences of racial violence in modern Spanish history.[1][2][3]

The Mar Plástico (Plastic Sea) of intensive farming in El Ejido is mainly tended to by migrant workers, who were the target of rioting in February 2000.[1]

Background

Migration to El Ejido
Main article: Intensive farming in Almería

Long a country of emigration to Latin America and northern Europe, Spain began to be a migrant destination at the end of the 20th century. In the province of Almería, Intensive agriculture became a major economic sector, employing 100,000 migrants earning the equivalent of US$25 per day. In El Ejido itself, an estimated 10,000 of its 45,000 inhabitants were foreign, and around half of them were living in shacks.[1]

Murders of José Ruiz and Tomás Bonilla

On 22 January 2000, a Moroccan migrant worker named Cherki Hadij was throwing rocks at a dog when he was confronted by farmer José Ruiz, who was travelling by van with his wife and children. Hadij then stunned Ruiz with a stone, and killed him with another blow while he was on the floor. Hadij's boss Tomás Bonilla came to try to save Ruiz, and had his throat slit by his employee.[4]

Hadij denied the charges against him, but was found unanimously guilty in July 2002 due to the testimony from Ruiz's family and the evidence of Bonilla's blood in his fingernails. Facing a maximum sentence of 40 years (20 for each murder), he was sentenced to 35, in addition to €210,000 (35 million pesetas) compensation to the families of each man.[5]

Juan José Bonilla, son of Tomás, became a local politician for the far-right party Vox.[6]

Murder of Encarnación López

Lesbir Fahim was a 22-year-old Moroccan working legally in El Ejido for two years. According to medical records, his mental state deteriorated severely after the murder of the two men. He had insomnia after seeing bloodstains at his place of work, and was prescribed valium. When he then developed acoustic hallucinations and paranoia, he was prescribed sedatives.[7]

On the morning of 5 February 2000, at the Saturday market, Fahim attempted to snatch the handbag of 26-year-old Encarnación López. When she resisted, he stabbed her near the liver, killing her almost instantly.[8] López was due to marry in March.[4] Among the 1,000 mourners at her funeral were politicians, who were chased into the church.[9]

At his trial in October 2003, it was accepted by the judge that Fahim had paranoid schizophrenia and was not fully responsible for murder. He was sentenced to 11 years and three months for the killing and seven months for attempted wounding.[10]

Riots

For three days following the murder of López, riots occurred in El Ejido and nearby towns. Migrants were chased with weapons and their cars and homes destroyed; some fled to the hills.[1] The BBC estimated the rioters to number 5,000.[9] Spain's government sent in hundreds of police officers from other cities to curb the violence.[11]

According to a report in The Irish Times, police intervened to stop violence, but not property crimes. Pro-refugee and feminist organisations were ransacked and their staff subjected to threats.[12] A telephone exchange allowing workers to contact Morocco,[12] a mosque and Halal butchers were also destroyed.[13]

Fifty-five people were arrested over the riots.[1] According to various local witnesses, some of the town's black African migrant workers assisted in the anti-Moroccan rioting.[12]

In November 2020, a documentary on the riots and the 20 years since was released through the news website Público. It is titled Después de las ocho (After Eight) due to a quote by the town's mayor Juan Enciso on migrants "At eight [in the morning] they're few in number, after eight [in the evening] they're everywhere".[14]

The riots have been the subject of academic articles. Manuel Ángel Río Ruiz (2002) argued against the prevailing view that ethnic segregation caused the violence, instead finding the opposite: the locals were rebelling against how rapid immigration was dismantling social closure.[15]

References
  1. Simons, Marlise (12 February 2000). "Resenting African Workers, Spaniards Attack". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  2. Webster, Justin (20 March 2000). "Racism rears its head in Andalucia". New Statesman. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  3. "The message of El Ejido". The Economist. 17 February 2000. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  4. Pérez, José Ángel (5 October 2015). "El doble crimen de El Ejido" [The double crime in El Ejido]. Diario de Almería (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  5. "Condenan a 35 años de cárcel al asesino de dos hombres en El Ejido" [Murderer of two men in El Ejido sentenced to 35 years in prison]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 25 July 2002. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  6. Sanmartín, Olga R. (16 May 2019). "Juan José Bonilla, candidato de Vox a la Alcaldía: "El Ejido es un polvorín, ojalá no se prenda otra mecha"" [Juan José Bonilla, Vox's candidate for mayor: "El Ejido is a powder keg, let's hope the fuse isn't lit again"]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  7. Rodríguez, Jorge A. (9 February 2000). "El supuesto asesino se trastornó a raíz de otro crimen" [The suspected murderer became mentally ill because of another crime]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  8. "Detenido un inmigrante en El Ejido acusado del asesinato de una mujer a la que quiso robar" [An immigrant detained in El Ejido, accused of murdering a woman who he wanted to rob]. El País (in Spanish). 6 February 2000. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  9. "Spanish town hit by racial violence". BBC News. 7 February 2000. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  10. López Díaz, María José (22 October 2003). "Condena de 11 años por el crimen que desató la xenofobia en El Ejido" [Sentenced to 11 years for the crime that set off xenophobia in El Ejido]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  11. Daly, Emma (13 February 2000). "Culture clash fuels race riots". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  12. "Fanning the flames". The Irish Times. 25 March 2000. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  13. Cenizo, Néstor (4 February 2019). "Tres asesinatos y tres días de violencia racista: Vox recuerda el pasado de El Ejido al nombrar a su nuevo coordinador local". El Diario (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  14. ""Después de las ocho", un documental sobre el ataque racista en El Ejido" ["Después de las ocho", a documentary on the racist attack in El Ejido]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 12 November 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  15. Río Ruiz, Manuel Ángel (2002). "El disturbio de El Ejido y la segregación de los inmigrantes". Anduli: Revista Andaluza de Ciencias Sociales (in Spanish). 1: 79–107.
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