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Migrants riot in Spanish beach town after African stabbed

The Local Spain
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Migrants riot in Spanish beach town after African stabbed
Fire rages on the streets of Roquetas del Mar on Friday. Photo: YouTube screen gran

"Garbage bins are being burned, cars have been burned, windows have been shattered," said city councillor Manolo Garcia.

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Manolo Garcia, a city councillor in Roquetas del Mar in the province of Almeria, said the killing of the 41-year-old man in the city led to protests which descended into violence in the working class neighbourhood of Cortijos de Marin.
 
"Garbage bins are being burned, cars have been burned, windows have been shattered," he told radio news station Cadena Ser.
   
Local online newspaper Ideal published a photo of a garbage container engulfed in flames in the middle of a street near a pharmacy as well as a video of man pushing a garbage container onto a burning car.
   
Police found the body of the man from Guinea-Bissau on a street in Roquetas del Mar in the early hours of Friday. Police suspect the man was stabbed following a dispute over a traffic accident, local media reported.
   
About 30-40 people had taken part in the unrest but police have since brought the situation under control, the assistant deputy of the national government in Almeria, Andres Garcia Lopez, told Cadena Ser.
   
"At this moment the situation is back to normal," he said.
   
Police would remain at the scene throughout the night and for the next few days to prevent any renewal of unrest, he added. No one was injured in the riot and no arrests were made, Lopez said.
   
The province of Almeria is home to a sea of plastic greenhouses that employ many migrants as vegetable and fruit labourers. It also relies on tourism but the jobless rate in the province stand at 31 percent, much higher than the already high national rate of 21 percent.
 
However, the town had a stroke of good fortune recently with around 1,600 people in the town each taking home a €400,000 share in the town's winnings from Spains' Christmas lottery. 
   
One of the lucky winners was a Senegalese man who arrived in Spain after having been rescued from a sinking boat by the Spanish coastguard.
 
In 2008 African migrants in Roquetas del Mar set fire to cars and houses, and attacked police and firefighters with stones, after a 28-year-old Senegalese man was stabbed to death.
 
 

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