No connection between fishery issue and El Ejido incidents, diplomat
Moroccan general consul in Algesiras (southern Spain), Amer El Mars, on Sunday ruled out any connection between the fishery issue and the events which shook last week the Andalusian locality of El Ejido.
The attacks were perpetrated by extremist xenophobe groups, El Mars told Monte Carlo radio. He added that the Spanish government promised to reinforce security and to take all measures to improve the conditions of the Moroccan community and to ease their integration in the Spanish society.
Moroccans settled in El Ejido, near Almeria, were prey to terrorist acts Monday night in retaliation to the murder of a Spanish woman allegedly by a mentally-disturbed Moroccan. Some 52 Moroccans were seriously injured and 17 arrested during the clashes.
Rabat refused to renew a four-year fisheries accord with the European Union that expired last November. The move, that forced thousands of Spanish ships to berth, provoked vandalism acts perpetrated by angry Spaniards against Moroccan products transiting Spain towards European Markets.
