ABSTRACT
In February 2000, in a medium-sized Spanish city named El Ejido, a pogrom erupted, the results of which were widely covered by European newspapers. 1 In this city of some 52,000 inhabitants, the population of foreign nationals (11,000, most of them Moroccans working on the farmlands around El Ejido) became the targets of violence for three full days. Immigrants’ shops were vandalised and burnt down, cars were set on fire and some 40 people were injured when hundreds of Spanish citizens hunted down migrants – some of whom fled to remote mountain areas to escape the waves of violence. The police finally intervened after three days of violence and rioting to restore a semblance of order, which remained precarious thereafter. The basic facts as presented in the media were as follows: two weeks before the outbreak of violence, two Spanish farmers had been killed, allegedly by two Moroccan field workers. The outburst of violence was also related to a second incident of murder that followed shortly after the initial killings. A 20-year-old (and obviously psychologically disturbed) Moroccan immigrant stabbed to death a young woman during a robbery attempt in the open street.
