An ultra-right group in Spain is being investigated for a potential hate crime following the release of its latest promotional video.
Anti-immigration cell Nucleo Nacional called on Spanish people to ‘actively defend’ their towns and ‘join the fight against the invasion’ to ‘stop Spain from becoming a s*** hole’.
The clip shows 15 young men donning balaclavas and black uniforms, with their logo emblazoned on their black shirts.
The leader in the forefront tells the camera there are ‘many immigrants’ on the streets, and that while ‘Spaniards suffer precarious jobs, getting up early every day for s****y wages […] a s****y squatter magnet and criminals have taken over a Spanish city by force, without anyone putting up a fight.’
The city in question is Salt in Girona, Catalonia, which saw protests in March that led to clashes with police.
Over two nights, around 100 people rallied against the eviction of an Imam and his family. The protest turned into a riot and six people were arrested.
Salt, a town of nearly 30,000 people, has high rates of immigration but is plagued by poverty, offering the perfect breeding ground for far-right forces.
Indeed, between 2019 and 2023, it was the only municipality in Catalonia to vote in councillors from hard-right party Vox.
But the protests in March were actually from left forces, against ‘heavy handed’ police action during the eviction of an apartment building that left three people injured.
Among the evicted was an imam, who had reoccupied the home after being turfed out a few days prior. His family were put up in a hostel before social housing could be found for them.
Following outcry, Salt City Council condemned the ‘repeated’ evictions of buildings owned by vulture funds or banks. It said they leave people homeless while the properties often remain empty afterwards.
But in the eyes of Nucleo Nacional, the police and authorities did not go hard enough.
Referencing the incidents in Salt, the spokesman in the video brands the police ‘cowards and traitors’ and criticises politicians for ‘offering a house to this imam, paid for with the money of all Spaniards.’
The video also calls for an ‘active defense of our neighbourhoods’ by people of any ideology, ‘regardless of political affiliation,’ as long as they are ‘Spanish,’ to prevent ‘Spain from becoming a s*** hole.’
The young man speaking ends the video by saying ‘Long live Spain’ and ‘Long live Europe.’
Nucleo Nacional is one of the far-right youth groups that is already on the Policia Nacional’s watch list.
