Spanish Police Investigate Alleged Assault on Moroccan Minors in Canary Islands Center

The Spanish police want to understand what really happened on Sunday, January 31, 2021, in a center for immigrant Moroccan minors in Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands. That day, Guardia civil agents had assaulted and harassed Moroccan minors. The police went to the scene following a call for help from the center, reports the Spanish press agency Efe. Armed with scissors, a Moroccan minor would have threatened several employees of the center, including the director and a minor assistant.

The dissemination of a video showing the heavy-handed intervention of the Guardia civil agents has prompted a reaction from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Residing Abroad, which summoned the Spanish ambassador to Rabat, Ricardo Díez-Hochleitner Rodríguez. A senior official of the ministry received the diplomat to express Morocco’s "concern" and "concern" over the treatment inflicted on Moroccan minors in detention centers in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

Likewise, the ministry called on the Spanish authorities to take measures to ensure the protection of Moroccan minors, on the one hand, and to take disciplinary action against the Guardia Civil agents involved in these assaults.