Five Brits arrested in Magaluf for hate crimes as expats and prostitutes continue to clash in party resort
British business owners said they are "furious" over the arrests because "nothing untoward happened" during the protest
FIVE Brits have been arrested on suspicion of a hate crime after violent scenes broke out in Magaluf between prostitutes and protesters who want them off the streets.
The five appeared before a court in Calvia on Friday and were released pending further investigations.
The court summons occurred after around 20 Nigerian prostitutes complained to police they had been insulted and assaulted by protesters who filmed them without their consent.
Police said statements were taken from all of them and their fingerprints and pictures were recorded.
British business owners in Magaluf say they are "furious" over the arrests because "nothing untoward happened" during the protest and they believe they are being picked on, not the prostitutes.
"Nobody does anything against the prostitutes who attack and rob our tourists.
"We go out to the street to protest and it turns out that now we are the bad guys. I do not understand anything," one of them told Spanish newspaper Ultimahora.es.
The shock development in the ongoing battle to rid Magaluf of the prostitutes has caused consternation among British workers and businessmen.
One confirmed today: "The outcome with the police wasn’t good.
"Our friends are being charged with hate crimes and are awaiting court.
"We have to rethink this again and change our tactics."
One of those who now faces a court summons is a Magaluf bar manager from Darlington, Co Durham.
He confirmed today he was among the Brits "charged" with hate crimes and disturbing the peace, although the police accusation is not a formal judicial charge.
Formal charges if they occur are likely to be months away because of the slowness of the Spanish judicial system.
The British group coordinating protests against the women claimed they were making a stand against the "prostitutes who have robbed, stabbed, bullied and attacked not only holidaymakers but the residents and seasonal workers of Magaluf".
But the prostitutes say they are being harassed every night, claiming they have been attacked with pepper spray and beaten up, with several of them having to go to a medical centre for treatment.
They haven't been able to get official residence papers and as some have children, the only work they can do is prostitution, they added.
British workers in the resort have vowed to hold public demonstrations every night over the summer to “prevent the women from making a living preying on the people of Magaluf,” insisting: “If the police will not do anything about it then we will.”
Doctors say a group of British business people in Magaluf have set up an online group called "March against Muggers".
A protest earlier this week ended up turning ugly as the women were chased off the streets while being videoed on mobile phones to shouts of “the tourists are not coming because of you".
Another of the protestors yelled: “What happens if you go back to your own countries and rob people. They slit your throats, right?”
One of the women picked up a block of wood as she was pursued by a large group of men yelling: “Get out, get out.”
The Mayor of Calvia, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal previously warned that citizen security was being put at risk by the ongoing controversy over the number of Nigerian prostitutes and insisted more Civil Guard officers were needed to combat the criminal gangs controlling the women.
The incidents come in the wake of police freeing four Nigerian women in Valencia who were due to be shipped out to Mallorca and Ibiza to work as prostitutes under the threat of voodoo curses.
Twelve people have been arrested for being part of the network which captured the women in their home country and then kept them prisoners in houses in Valencia until they were taken to the holiday islands.
Police said the women were being prepared to work on the streets to coincide with the busy tourist season and both they and their families were threatened with violence if they failed to pay back an alleged debt of 35,000 euros for their "transport and keep".
Calvia council has sent an official letter to the Balearic Government saying the State forces had to intervene because of a growing threat to tourists visiting the resort.
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