Peace march ends in anti-Gypsy protest

By: thinkSPAIN , Monday, November 3, 2008

A demonstration for peaceful coexistence organised by Castellar council last Saturday night was immediately followed by a counter-protest that ended with more than three hundred people chanting "Gypsies out" as near to the homes of the town's Casas Nuevas Gypsy quarter as they were allowed to get by a contingent of around thirty Guardia Civil officers.

It is estimated that more than a quarter of the town's population of 3,800 braved the persistent rain to support the earlier silent march through the streets of the town 'For Peace and Coexistence in Castellar', and which ended with the headmaster of the local junior school reading out a manifesto insisting that, "Castellar is not a racist or xenophobic town."

Last Sunday, around 1,500 townspeople staged a violent protest against the three Gypsy families that live in the Casas Nuevas district, during which rocks and missiles were thrown that shattered several windows, after a fight involving rival gangs of Gypsy and Spanish youths the previous night.

While the protest was aimed mainly at the members of the notorious 'Del Tuerto' clan, two other Gypsy families living in the town also felt obliged to move out of their homes temporarily last week.