In July 2025, anti-migrant violence occurred in the town of

Torre-Pacheco Torre-Pacheco () is a municipality in the autonomous community of Murcia in southeastern Spain. It covers an area of and its population in 2019 was 35,676. The only high ground in the municipality is Cabezo Gordo hill, the location of the protec ...

, in the

Region of Murcia The Region of Murcia (, ; ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. The region is in area and had a popul ...

in Spain. The trigger event was the beating of a pensioner, for which three people of North African origin were arrested. Days of violence against North African people and businesses followed.

Background

is a town of 40,000 people located in the

, in the southeast of Spain. Around a third of the inhabitants are foreigners, many of whom are employed in

intensive farming Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of arable farming, crop plants and of Animal husbandry, animals, with higher levels ...

Assault of pensioner

On 10 July 2025, a 68-year-old man was beaten in Torre-Pacheco. The victim said that his attackers did not take his money or possessions, and that they spoke a foreign language. Three men of North African origin were arrested over the attack. One was arrested on a train heading towards France.

Unrest

A video purporting to show the assault on the pensioner was spread on social media. The police and the victim confirmed that the footage was unrelated. Real photographs of the man's injuries were also shared. There were battles on the street between far-right groups and North Africans. A

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

group was used to organise violence, until it was shut down by the service. At least two channels run by the organisation were shut down on court order. An alleged leader of the group behind the Telegram group was arrested. A man of Moroccan origin who had run a kebab shop for over a decade was attacked by what he estimated as 50 people, armed with baseball bats and pepper spray. Violence against North Africans was carried out by locals including those of '' Gitano'' (Romani) origin. Gitano singer announced his support for "my people" and said that he had fought off North African muggers in Barcelona. Some from within the Gitano community spoke against the violence, highlighting their own history as victims of collective punishment. On 15 July, the Spanish government's delegate in Murcia announced that there had been 14 arrests and 120 people identified over the disorder.

Reactions

Fernando Grande-Marlaska Fernando Grande-Marlaska Gómez (; born 26 July 1962) is a Spanish judge and politician who has served as minister of the Interior since June 2018. An independent politician close to the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, he has been Member of th ...

, the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

, blamed the violence on far-right groups including the party Vox. Prosecutors in the Region of Murcia investigated local Vox leader

José Ángel Antelo José Ángel Antelo Paredes (born May 7, 1987) is a Spanish politician for Vox and a retired professional basketball player. Antelo, born in Santiago de Compostela, played as power forward. Professional career Antelo was formed in the young te ...

for having blamed the violence on the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

and People's Party. Vox's national leader,

Santiago Abascal Santiago Abascal Conde (; born 14 April 1976) is a Spanish politician who has been the Vox (political party)#Presidents, president of Vox since 2015. He has also been the Patriots.eu#President, president of Patriots.eu since 2024, and has been a ...

, blamed immigration policies for the initial assault before the unrest.

References

{{reflist July 2025 in Spain July 2025 crimes 2025 crimes in Europe 2020s crimes in Spain 2025 riots Riots and civil disorder in Spain Race riots

Background

Assault of pensioner

Unrest

Reactions

See also

References