Clashes in Madrid. According to the Spanish daily El Mundohigh tensions erupted Tuesday morning in the capital when a group of migrants stormed the Gambian embassy, after a night of unsuccessful waiting to obtain an essential administrative document. The events took place around 10 a.m., in the Ciudad Lineal district. Since the evening before, dozens of people had been queuing in front of the diplomatic representation in the hope of obtaining a “certificate of vulnerability”, a document necessary for certain administrative procedures. But at dawn, the authorities tell them that all the appointments have already been allocated.
Frustration then turns into chaos. Always according to El Mundoseveral individuals began to scale the embassy fence and force their way into the compound, in a desperate attempt to gain access to the precious sesame. Scenes of panic and stampedes occur around the building, under the helpless gaze of other people who remain outside. Faced with the situation, the police intervened quickly. Agents from the Prevention and Reaction Unit (UPR) of the National Police, supported by the Madrid Municipal Police, are deployed to contain the incident.
Their intervention allows “restore order and evacuate people who had entered the premises”report police sources cited by the Spanish newspaper. Despite the violence of the scene, no arrests were made. The authorities emphasize that the speed of the intervention made it possible to avoid a more serious escalation. Police surveillance was nevertheless maintained in the area, due to the risk of new intrusion attempts.
This episode takes place in a particularly tense migratory context in Spain. The country, engaged in a vast program of regularization of undocumented immigrants which could concern up to half a million people, is the subject of criticism on the European scene. Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, however, assumes this orientation, considering that these regularizations are necessary “to support the economic dynamism of the country”.
