The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has put on the table some reflections after the terrorist attack on Wednesday in Algeciras that go a step beyond the prudent tone used by his party. “For many centuries we have not seen a Christian kill in the name of his religion or his beliefs, there are other towns that have some citizens who do.” At a lunch at the Círculo Ecuestre in Barcelona, ??the popular leader indicated that “Islamic terrorism is a problem for the whole of European society” and we must act with unity.
The call for coexistence and respect between cultures and religions had been practically unanimous this morning, except from Vox, after the attack that killed Diego Valencia, sacristan of a church in Algeciras, on Wednesday night, perpetrated by Yasine Kanjaa, of Moroccan origin. The far-right formation was left alone linking “illegal immigration” to the attack and speaking of “cultures incompatible with ours.” One of the first voices that had been heard in the morning asking that “no one generalize towards any ethnic or religious group” was that of the president of the Junta de Andalucía and leader of the PP, Juanma Moreno.
Feijóo has therefore introduced nuances in this assessment. As he has pointed out, the situation must be approached prudently due to the geographical situation of Spain, but noting that what happened is “serious and worrying”. And he has remembered the attacks of 11-M in Madrid.
Hours before, the president of the Junta de Andalucía had considered that the attack, in which the alleged murderer acted with a machete and shouting “death to Christians” and “Allah is great”, is a “unfortunate specific fact of which no conclusions can be drawn.” Moreno recalled that 129 nationalities coexist in Algeciras without any serious altercations having occurred.
From the Government and the formations of the parliamentary arch, Vox has been demanded to stop trying to get “political revenue” from the deadly attack. The Minister for Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, stressed that democracy is strong in its diversity “and will not allow violence to break democratic coexistence”. Also from the Executive, the minister and leader of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has considered it miserable that Vox links what happened to illegal immigration.
And Ciudadanos has spoken along the same lines, asking to stick to the facts and stop trying to scratch and make propaganda. The spokesperson for the PP, Cuca Gamarra, had also directly attacked Santiago Abascal – who believes that the advance of Islamism cannot be tolerated – indicating that his party is not going to “stigmatize any group”.
This has been the scenario for reflection, with the unity of the formations against Vox, but with the nuances introduced by Feijóo in a debate where the extreme right always wants to influence to seek votes. On the other hand, the opposition as a whole has criticized the lack of information offered by President Pedro Sánchez up to now. For this reason, it has been requested that he convene the Monitoring Commission of the Anti-Jihadist Pact. Feijóo and Gamarra have stressed the need for communication between the president and the opposition leader, null according to their analysis, and have indicated that the monitoring commission has not met for five years.
Appeals for coexistence have also come from the Episcopal Conference. César García Magán, Secretary General, has asked “not to demonize” any group or identify the attack with the Islamic religion. And he has said that in Spain they did not fall for the identification of ETA with the Basque people. The Islamic Board of Spain has “firmly” condemned what happened, pointing out that this type of “execrable acts have no place in a plural and open society where freedom of worship must be a central value. The Federation of Jewish Communities has also described the murder of the sacristan as “vile and execrable”.
From Brussels, the European Commission has conveyed its condolences to the families. “Our thoughts are with all the victims,” ??said community spokesman Eric Mamer.