Tommy Robinson has sparked backlash after sharing a video of African people on a Spanish beach and claiming ‘this is what Pedro Sanchez wants for the whole of Spain’.
The footage shows dozens of people of African descent gathering on a promenade on the Canary Islands.
The far-right agitator, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, said in a post on X that ‘only Vox’ and its leader Santiago Abascal ‘can save Spain’.
He wrote: ‘Canary Islands in ‘modern Spain’, this is what dirty Sanchez wants for the whole of the nation… get him out.
‘Only Santiago Abascal and Vox will save Spain.’
A local flight attendant told the Spanish Eye that the clip does show Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife, but that it is taken out of context.
However, he said: ‘This is where I live and it is not like this, there are a lot African people but it’s not like that.
‘The video is true though, I remember this day, but the post is warping reality.
‘There was some kind of event being organised for the African or migrant community involving clothes and food, so a lot of them were gathered there.’
The post received a furious string of comments from other Spaniards, with one asking the Policia Nacional to ‘kick this guy out’ for ‘causing problems in Spain’.
Another read: ‘Clean your mouth before you talk about my country you British scum.’
One said the migrants were ‘much better’ than Brits ‘drinking, vomiting and fighting in all corners’ of the islands.
‘The only immigrants we don’t want are drunk Brits,’ wrote another.
Robinson has spent periods of time living in Spain since 2020, when he announced his family were moving to the country ‘for security reasons’.
Last summer, he was spotted in Tenerife, which has been described as his ‘safe place’. It came after he found himself in trouble with the law following an alleged assault at London St Pancras train station.
Robinson’s interventions into Spanish politics come amid a series of crucial regional elections in Spain, including Andalucia in just several weeks time.
The Canary Islands remain on the frontline of migration routes into Europe, with thousands of arrivals from Africa in recent years putting pressure on local services and fuelling political debate.
