Far-right groups in Spain only managed to draw in fewer than 100 participants to an anti-immigration protest held on Tuesday night in Torre Pacheco, the town in Murcia that has seen several days of unrest following an assault on an elderly resident last Wednesday. ALSO READ: Spain’s home minister blames ‘rhetoric’ of far-right Vox for anti-migrant unrest in Torre Pacheco.
Despite a major push on far-right Telegram channels urging people to travel in from other parts of Spain for the protest – reportedly planned as a ‘starting gun’ for three days of ‘hunting’ for North African migrants – most of those who did attend were locals, a sign that the mobilisation largely fell flat.
The far-right Telegram channel has since been shut down.
A strong police deployment, stationed both in the town centre and at key access points, played a decisive role in preventing the arrival of potentially violent individuals. Even so, some tried to reach the rally, despite the strict security measures in place.
Around 14 people have now been arrested in the riots that followed the attack on the 68-year-old pensioner last week. Among those arrested, three people of North African origin have been detained on suspicion of attacking him.
The victim of last Wednesday’s attack, named locally as Domingo Tomás Domínguez, told Spanish media he was thrown to the ground and hit while taking his morning walk.
A photo circulating on social media showed his face bearing extensive bruising.
Police said the motive for the attack was unclear. Domínguez said he was not asked to hand over money or his belongings and did not understand the language his attackers were speaking.
The unrest began after a video circulated on social media, inflaming the town of 40,000 people which is home to a large immigrant population.
The pensioner and police later said the video was unrelated to the incident but social media calls to find and attack the perpetrators multiplied quickly.
One far-right group called ‘Deport Them Now’ called for attacks specifically on people of North African origin. Further messages on social media had been calling for renewed attacks on immigrants over three days this week.
A leading member of the extremist group was detained in the Catalan town of Mataró on suspicion of spreading hate speech.
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En este municipio murciano conviven más de 41.000 personas, de las cuales una de cada tres es de origen extranjero.
🎙️Desde Torre Pacheco @begortega
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— Telediarios de TVE (@telediario_tve) July 16, 2025
Sigue el acoso a los medios de comunicación en el transcurso de la concentración en Torre-Pacheco.
🎙️Informa @chapinalmaria #EspecialTorrePachecoRTVE
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