How can SPAIN be allowed to torture people - thousands - babies, eldeerly, disbaled by keeping them in the heat in queue?
So Day 3 - question how long will this continue? These cruel and merciless actions of creating queues in this way should never have been started and least of all tolerated by any government in SPAIN or UK!We were down back at the Border handing water as from 10.00am. This looked to be another day of queues which were already at 2.5 hours.
Once again the aim was the humanity aspect and then explaining as best we could so that the people caught in the queues could understand.
It was a devastating 2 days of people experiencing such pain and suffering for no reason at al. I think most people always accept and expect at least 1-2 hours queue due to the influx of cars coming into Gibraltar. However, what is not acceptable is that queues get caused on purpose to inflict pain and anguish.
We had Visits from members of the opposition Danny Feetham and Edwin Reyes and some more volunteers whose names now at this time I forget. (Forgive me guys)
Today that I write about this is the day after the 3rd day of the saga that Spanish Government gave orders to the Guardia Civil at the Border to purposely and intentionally create queues. It has been hard to ensure that all persons no matter their nationality were assisted in every way possible and if they needed water this was given to them.
It was a very hard 3 days - challenging to say the least. Lots of people during the 3 days were attended by ambulance, taken to hospital and all the Government authorities were amazing! There was a great level of humanity in action where despite what was going on people from all of Gibraltar came out to offer help in any way they could or was needed.
Many thanks to the RGP, Fire Brigade, St John's Ambulance, the Customs and Immigration and many others! You were all so professional in this difficult time!
Everyone tried as much as possible not to turn the whole saga into a them and us or help only our own people. All help was offered to ALL people! Even the Working Group for Spanish Workers Working in Gibraltar came over in solidarity to help us dish out water and to explain to their own people caught in the queues that it is was their own Spanish government who were doing this and were to blame.
Our many photos and videos capture many stories and situations during the 3 days. Some are already on our youtube channel.
We still have to consolidate more to upload and publish. We will present them in a better way in the next week.
We have had a few crashes in the queues as people were too hot and disorientated after being in the sun for 4 hours. Each situation had to be dealt with a clam and serenity at times hard to accomplish when drivers and families are tired, angry and even disorientated to say the very least!
We have had a variety of people fainting, chest pain and panic attacks. All caused by the stressful situation in that people felt they were being detained in masses illegally. Fortunately with patience and understanding they all could by the time they reached the queue by the border see for themselves the culprits were indeed the Spanish Guardia Civil. It is wrong for human beings to be used in this way as a weapon by Spain to cause harm. The way they have behaved can be compared to an act of terrorism and at a time that Spain were supposed to be in mourning for the lives lost in a recent train accident leaves a lot to be desired!
At the end of the day SPAIN has to accept that Gibraltar is British and belongs to the people of Gibraltar and whether they like it or not Gibraltar does have their own SEA and they can do it it what they like!
Let us not kid oursleves on the many excuses SPAIN will try to give for their recent behaviour - those who know Gibraltar and the people - those who have experienced it can all vouch - there is no reason to behave in this manner to any human being!
As if things were not hard enough yesterday on the 3rd day of all the problems with the queues - Spain commenced a new STRATEGY!
The new Strategy was to target all t hose person who now wanted to enter Gibraltar and not exit Gibraltar. This stared at 12.00 midday in which the Guardia Civil implemented the same "Create queue tactic - stop and search each and every car, motorbike and bicycles”. This tactic then caused 2.5 - 3.5 queues which went all t he way in SPAIN to Alcaidesa. So now we had thousands of more people to deal with. Who would suffer the heat in queues that again are being caused deliberately by the Spanish Guardia Civil.
By 2.00pm We had to move to the entrance of our Frontier to give out water to each and every car that was coming into Gibraltar - once again full of people with babies and children, Elderly, disabled etc All feeling the same pain and anguish as the many who suffered the queues to exit Gibraltar i the last 3 days!
Who would think this behaviour was from a country calling themselves to be a democracy and in the European Union. It felt more akin to a country whose border was not with an EU country. All the attitudes and how they were handling the public was so hostile. No manners, no explanations etc.
By this time the Volunteers from the Spanish Working group went back into Spain to start giving water to the people caught up in the queues there! A big thank you to them all.
Who would think anyting worse could happen? But yes tensions grew when before our very eyes we see what happened to a local lad coming into Gibraltar from Spain. This young man was waiting his turn in the queue and suddenly when he was told to move on was challenged by another Guardia Civil and POUNCED upon in a manner that not even Terrorist or other criminals are ever done!
This caused tensions to grow and even moreso when we could see the beating they were giving him so we began to record the incident. It was an utter disgrace that a human being on a bycycle could be treated in this cruel and vicious act of brutality!
Watch the whole saga on GBC website -
http://www.gbc.gi/news/2123/gibraltarian-aggressively-arrested-by-spanish-police
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After this incident the tensions intensified and crowds started to gather at the border. Some came to show solidarity to what happened and others came to vent their anger and frustrations.
Some youngsters started to misbehave to show their frustrations and so the decision was made to put into good use this sense of frustrations. SO our Chairman took them walking to the Governors residence so that they all had an opportunity to show their solidarity.
So on they went and while they were holding the stand of solidarity about the unjust treatment from Spanish Authorities - our Governor Sir Adrian did come out to meet the people and talk to them, Well done Sir Adrian Johns!
Governor condemns queues, and reports back to FCO
Date: 29 July 2013 at 11:08
The
Governor, Sir Adrian Johns, has described the border queues as 'utterly
unacceptable'. Commenting on the weekend's gridlock chaos, Sir Adrian
says freedom of movement is a basic human right, and it is absolutely
wrong that people’s rights should be used as a political lever in this
way.
The
Governor has been in constant touch with the FCO at senior level and
diplomatic activity involving ministers and ambassadors has continued
over the weekend with the UK protesting Spain’s actions in the strongest
terms. The events of Sunday afternoon on the Spanish side of the
border have, in the Governor’s words, “gone beyond the pale” and
represent a serious escalation of the situation. The Governor has
called for calm while the UK acts at the highest level to urge Spain to
restore the status quo.
Sir
Adrian added that he also wanted to thank and congratulate the Royal
Gibraltar Police and all those in support who are providing water,
emergency aid, and assistance with the queues. He said: “I saw at
firsthand how the RGP were handling the most difficult situations with
patience and good humour. Many people came up to me and said what a
wonderful job the police were doing. I just want to add my appreciation
as well.”
*****************************************************************************************************
Finally our Foreign Minister who has constantly refused to take up the issues we in Gibraltar have been suffering - actually stood up to do his job! It was a disggrace that we the Defenders of Gibraltar have been asking for him to intervene and he left it too late! He has been fobbing us off to his Minister for Europe David Lildington who has done NOTHING to help us in any of our many issues and situations!
It took 3 days of suffering of many thousands before you did anything at all! Had you done hte phone call on the first day many innocent people would have been saved from the suffering that they had to go through!
It has been the lack of action of these two men that we blame them both for all recent escalations - the shooting at the Jet Ski and now not only the border queues but the beating up of one of our own local lads as if he were armed and dangerous!
Shame on you MR Hagueand shame on you Mr Lidington!
Hague calls Margallo to protest over frontier delays
Date: 28 July 2013 at 09:21
A Foreign Office spokesman said the main concern at the moment was restoring people's basic right to freedom of movement.He said the UK wanted a speedy resolution to help ease the difficult situation, and enable a return to nomal operations.
In a tweet to followers, Mr Hague said: "spoke to Spanish Foreign Minister Margallo to raise our concerns about restrictions at Spanish-Gibraltar border".
And Fabian Picardo appealed for calm, asking Twitter followers to allow diplomatic channels to work. He also thanked RGP and HEO officers for their hard work at the weekend.
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So some Photos COurtesy of Anne-Marie Struggles
The queues at 10.00am Sunday 28th July
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So what now? We need people from all over the world to say SHAME on YOU to SPAIN! It is not acceptable for you to create queues on purpose!
Gibraltar may not be in SCHENGEN but tis behaviour is cruel and inhumane!
Let us stand up to the BULLY that Spain is and highlight that they behave more and more each day not as a country with DEMOCRACY but rather as a FACIST Country!
Below some write ups on our Gibraltar Chronicle Daily Paper
The
Governor speaks to concerned citizens who gathered outside The Convent
yesterday evening.
******************************************************
Emergency services and volunteers applauded
Gibraltar
was united in thanking its emergency services and volunteers for their efforts
in managing the queues and providing assistance to those trapped in their
vehicles because of the Spanish border checks.
“The
Government would like to thank all the agencies, authorities and volunteers who
assisted the thousands of people who have been stuck in the border queues this
weekend,” the Gibraltar Government said in a statement.
“This includes in particular the Royal Gibraltar Police, the Highways Enforcement Officers, the Ambulance Service and Gibraltar Health Authority.”
“The Government is also very grateful to the Defenders of Gibraltar and the many volunteers who made life more bearable for those people in the queue since the disgraceful delays orchestrated by the Spanish authorities intensified on Friday and everyone else from the community who joined in assisting.”
“This includes in particular the Royal Gibraltar Police, the Highways Enforcement Officers, the Ambulance Service and Gibraltar Health Authority.”
“The Government is also very grateful to the Defenders of Gibraltar and the many volunteers who made life more bearable for those people in the queue since the disgraceful delays orchestrated by the Spanish authorities intensified on Friday and everyone else from the community who joined in assisting.”
Guardia should challenge ‘inhumane orders’, says former RGP chief
Former Royal Police Commissioner Louis Wink this weekend called on Guardia Civil to refrain from carrying out inhumane border checks.Commenting on his Twitter account in the course of this weekend’s dramatic queues in the blazing heat Mr Wink said “If GC (the Guardia Civil) were democratic they would challenge the orders they receive on grounds of [being] oppressive and against human rights. Where is their union?”
He stated that if the Guardia Civil are not happy they should challenge their orders. “Law enforcement officers cannot be forced to breach human rights,” he said adding that the searches of cars and bikes by the Guardia are “designed to increase the suffering of the innocent”.
He clarified that that he was not urging officers to disobey, simply to challenge the orders. But he also added that “we need to retain our composure and allow the pertinent authorities and UK diplomacy to deal with this.”
Anne-Marie Struggles
That's why we're called the United Kingdom & proud to see you all united proud to be British :)
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