Sorry if I gave the impression that I would like to see all non-whites kicked out of Spain and its islands. I did use the words, "deporting many of these people", as opposed to, "...all of these people", though I accept that doesn't make my intent clear enough.
To be clear on this, I'm not for deporting anyone, from Spain, UK or anywhere else, when they are contributing to the society in which they live. I am however, for deporting anyone, from any country, who has entered illegally or who has entered legally, yet undertakes illegal activity in that country.
In Ibiza for instance, there is a long standing problem with Moroccans. My Ibizan friends can't stand them. The police however do not seem interested.
To give you an example, my wife and I were with friends in Cala Conta for a day on the beach there a few years back. Around lunchtime we headed for the main restaurant adjacent to the beach and, as we did, a fracas broke out between an Englishman and a Moroccan. Basically, the English lad had the Moroccan in a stranglehold and had wrestled him to the ground. At this point I could see two other Moroccans getting closer to the crowd which had gathered.
The English lad shouted out to the other beach users that he had been robbed by the same man the day previously and had come back to watch for him again that day. He had been sitting under a parasol for three hours, wearing a large hat so he could remain unrecognised, simply surveying the beach and the access paths for any sign of this Moroccan. He had suddenly spotted him and watched as he made his way down to the beach and proceeded to take a woman's handbag from her beach bag which was lying by her side as she sunbathed.
He explained that this was when he had pounced on the thief and why he was restraining him. Now the beach restaurant owner appeared and asked the English lad to hold the thief until he could call the police, as this man was part of a group regularly thieving from visitors to this beach. Once he had called the police, the restaurant owner returned and helped the English lad to restrain the Moroccan. By this time his accomplices had made themselves scarce.
We left and headed for the restaurant to have lunch, returning to the beach just over an hour later. To our surprise, we met the English lad who had a few cuts and bruises around his arms and legs.
He explained that, when then police had arrived and arrested the Moroccan; they had handcuffed him and placed him in the back of the police van. Before being put inside, the Moroccan had complained that the cuffs were hurting his wrists, so the officer slackened them for him. The officer then failed to lock the van door while he questioned the Englishman and the restaurant owner.
As you have no doubt guessed, the thief escaped easily by slipping out of the slackened cuffs and getting out through the unlocked door. The English lad had a motorbike and gave chase, but the police officer said his van would not be any good over the rough terrain. The guy had to give up the chase when he came off his motorbike and injured himself.
By the time he got back, the police had gone, having told the restaurant owner that they had no way of finding the thief or his accomplices. According to the owner, they had no interest in catching these guys, as he had complained about them on several occasions. He even said he reckoned they had let the thief escape deliberately, rather than have to process him at the station.
I've heard many such stories about the attitude of the Spanish police and just can't understand it. In the example I gave, the English lad was able to catch one of this gang within 24 hours of having been robbed. Surely the police could show the same initiative and endeavour?
As I said before, this applies to every country. I'm sure everyone on here has horror stories they could tell about what illegal immigrants get away with in the UK. I was only commenting on CDS specifically in my post, as it was in direct reference to Tim's opening post.
Hi Jay Jay
I gathered from the OP that robberies, the "lookey lookey" men and the amount of Africanos in Fuengirola was his gripe, and that the police seem to be doing nothing about it.
I've tried to explain that the Africano "lookey looky" men if they are legal residents of Spain, they have every right to be there and I've tried to explain the reason of how they became legal residents.
People say things like why don't the police do more,?
I suspect the police are under funded and under manned, and towns are funded from the central government in Madrid, according to the amount of residents officially registered at the town hall, which may not represent the funding per head of the true figures of the amount of people in the various towns"¦.. plus unless you (we) know the Spanish law inside out, it's very easy to comment when you don't know the whole picture because you are seeing things from a different/tourist angle.
I certainly do not know the Spanish law inside out, but I have a Spanish friend who I would class as intelligent, who told me several things, I can only repeat what she told me and I can't vouch for it being 100% correct down to the last dot on the paper.
I once saw an incident in Benidorm involving the organised rackets known as "Potato men" where a scuffle broke out, I was telling her about it and I asked "why don't the police stop this because it gives a bad name to the resort.?"
In her translation into English, she used the word "fault", which I interpreted to mean a minor transgression or a minor offence..
Apparently, the potato men when caught, they are issued with a monetary fine for illegal street gambling, which they pay and then go back onto the streets a few hours later to fleece another gullible tourist and gain back the money.
For the case to go any further, the person who has been tricked out of their money, they have to press charges and if they do, they are also charged with partaking in illegal street gambling, so, you can see why there are not many people who are going to come forward and get these tricksters in front of a judge....the law is putting handcuffs on the police.
Another thing, any amount of money under €300 is not a robbery, it's a fault.
If you steal a car and give it back within 48 hours, again it's classed as a fault.
So, are these incidents (whilst important to us) as important to the police when there are bigger fish to fry.?
Maybe it's not the police who should do more, but the law which needs changing, but the prisons are full and overflowing, so they need more prisons too.
When people say "I can walk down my town late at night (in the UK) and not get robbed" maybe that's because a percentage of those who would otherwise turn to crime, are getting generous benefits from the British taxpayer, whereas they don't in Spain.
I'm not trying to make excuses, far from it, I would dearly love Spain to be the Spain of 25 years ago, where it was primitive in places and the only thing tourists had to worry about, was getting a bad stomach from the different cuisine and the water, and the police had respect from everybody.
But, I know I'm just dreaming because it is lost forever, along with other places in Europe/world"¦....joining the EU gave Spain many benefits, but it also brought them a load of grief when they had to become the puppets of Brussels for the grants out of the EU pot, for the new roads, promenades, hospitals and the billions invested in the rail network.etc.
Having said all that, the first thing I usually see in Spain, is a policeman, I ain't seen a policeman on my local streets for the best part of 20 years.
Sanji
I gathered from the OP that robberies, the "lookey lookey" men and the amount of Africanos in Fuengirola was his gripe, and that the police seem to be doing nothing about it.
I've tried to explain that the Africano "lookey looky" men if they are legal residents of Spain, they have every right to be there and I've tried to explain the reason of how they became legal residents.
People say things like why don't the police do more,?
I suspect the police are under funded and under manned, and towns are funded from the central government in Madrid, according to the amount of residents officially registered at the town hall, which may not represent the funding per head of the true figures of the amount of people in the various towns"¦.. plus unless you (we) know the Spanish law inside out, it's very easy to comment when you don't know the whole picture because you are seeing things from a different/tourist angle.
I certainly do not know the Spanish law inside out, but I have a Spanish friend who I would class as intelligent, who told me several things, I can only repeat what she told me and I can't vouch for it being 100% correct down to the last dot on the paper.
I once saw an incident in Benidorm involving the organised rackets known as "Potato men" where a scuffle broke out, I was telling her about it and I asked "why don't the police stop this because it gives a bad name to the resort.?"
In her translation into English, she used the word "fault", which I interpreted to mean a minor transgression or a minor offence..
Apparently, the potato men when caught, they are issued with a monetary fine for illegal street gambling, which they pay and then go back onto the streets a few hours later to fleece another gullible tourist and gain back the money.
For the case to go any further, the person who has been tricked out of their money, they have to press charges and if they do, they are also charged with partaking in illegal street gambling, so, you can see why there are not many people who are going to come forward and get these tricksters in front of a judge....the law is putting handcuffs on the police.
Another thing, any amount of money under €300 is not a robbery, it's a fault.
If you steal a car and give it back within 48 hours, again it's classed as a fault.
So, are these incidents (whilst important to us) as important to the police when there are bigger fish to fry.?
Maybe it's not the police who should do more, but the law which needs changing, but the prisons are full and overflowing, so they need more prisons too.
When people say "I can walk down my town late at night (in the UK) and not get robbed" maybe that's because a percentage of those who would otherwise turn to crime, are getting generous benefits from the British taxpayer, whereas they don't in Spain.
I'm not trying to make excuses, far from it, I would dearly love Spain to be the Spain of 25 years ago, where it was primitive in places and the only thing tourists had to worry about, was getting a bad stomach from the different cuisine and the water, and the police had respect from everybody.
But, I know I'm just dreaming because it is lost forever, along with other places in Europe/world"¦....joining the EU gave Spain many benefits, but it also brought them a load of grief when they had to become the puppets of Brussels for the grants out of the EU pot, for the new roads, promenades, hospitals and the billions invested in the rail network.etc.
Having said all that, the first thing I usually see in Spain, is a policeman, I ain't seen a policeman on my local streets for the best part of 20 years.
Sanji
The lucky men are in my opinion a real nuisance but I don't think many of them are thieves. Possibly the reason the Police don't do anything is that they are all controlled by a Mr. Big who gives a pay off or simply if they arrest them they have to look after them until deportation. I have seen the police stop them and confiscate their goods but let them go.
Hi Sanji,
Excellent post as always. I never cease to be amazed by the information you are able to give us here. Most of what you just explained is completely new to me.
JJ.
Excellent post as always. I never cease to be amazed by the information you are able to give us here. Most of what you just explained is completely new to me.
JJ.
On the basis of 21 years' experience of the coast, would tend to agree with most, if not all, Sanji's comments... on a sliding scale of nuisance, the Timeshare touts beat the looky-looky men hands down. The look-looky men are, by and large, gentle, genial and harmless souls, if a tad persistent, especially when you are dining, but, as someone has previously said, 'no, thanks' is normally enough. I have never experienced aggressive or rude behaviour from the looky-looky men but have seen it directed towards them. I have, more than once, however, experienced rudeness and aggression from the Timeshare touts. Several bars I've used down the years have banned them for their foul language off-duty.. they are what they are and they do what they do.
i find it hard to belive that the touts get banned from bars due to bad language,most bar owners here will put up with anything as they have no xp and need the cash
anyway they mostly frequent the oasis bar during the day
anyway they mostly frequent the oasis bar during the day
This was a few years ago down in Bonanza Square, in Benalmadena, when times and businesses were thriving much more than now and owners could afford to be selective. Two family bars I used definitely banned a group of them for consistently foul and explicit language. You're probably right about the present time. Funny how hard times haven't diminished the number of timeshare touts... there seem to be as many as ever in the hotspots. I happened to be in Playa del Ingles, Gran Canaria last week and they were all over people like a rash.
Drives of Irish! Seriously, you should take a look at who built the tourist trade there, you are way of the mark with your comments, out of all of Spain there is the least amount of luckys in feungirola as for the drives of Irish I think the English have a lot more to answer for, check the police reports my fellow traveller. If your going to slag people off check your bloody facts. Out of order.
@Eamonn Storan -did you look at the date of this thread ??? No-one has posted since New Year 2010 
Or are you just spamming ??
Or are you just spamming ??
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