What is behind spate of racist attacks in Spain’s Murcia?

Media and institutional silence contribute towards climate of impunity, experts say, pointing to the rise of the far-right and the normalisation of xenophobic narratives.

A wave of racist attacks in Murcia, an autonomous region in southeastern Spain, has sparked shock and outrage, with local organisations denouncing what they describe as an unprecedented month of racially motivated violence. Younes Bilal, a 37-year-old Moroccan man, was fatally shot at a bar on June 13 by a Spanish man who had been hurling racist remarks at Bilal and a group of friends, according to witnesses at the scene. That the same week, an Ecuadorian-Spanish woman, Lilián Zúñiga, was admitted to hospital after being assaulted by a woman at a food bank line who allegedly used a racist slur and yelled: “They are stealing food from us”. This was after a 22-year-old Moroccan man, Momoun Koutaibi, was assaulted on June 5 by a coworker, leaving him in coma, an attack witnesses and the victim’s family allege was racially motivated. This month, tensions in the region were heightened after a local mosque was vandalised in the district of Cabezo de Torres. In February, there was an attempt to set fire to a mosque in the town of San Javier. Last year, activists said protesters staged a rally outside a centre for unaccompanied migrant minors, alleging that those staying there were bringing with them COVID-19.  A “fake” explosive was found outside the centre last year.