On Sunday, swimming trunk-clad sunseekers were seen pinning down migrants who had arrived on the busy Sotillo Beach in Granada just moments earlier as families paddled in the shadows
Tourists tackled a group of migrants after they landed on a popular Spanish beach last weekend.
In footage of Sunday’s incident, a speed boat carrying around 13 young men – thought to be from Morocco – could be seen arriving on Sotillo Beach in Granada’s Castell de Ferro at around 2pm.
As stunned holidaymakers paddled in the shallows, the passengers are seen diving into the water, swimming to the beach, before trying to get away on foot. It comes after news a nursery teacher drowned her partner’s four-year-old daughter in sickening attack.
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Alberto Garcia, a restaurateur from the area, told local newspaper Ideal: “We all stood there staring, not quite knowing what was happening.
“We thought it was a recreational boat, but when we saw that they started throwing objects into the water and people starting to get out, we realised it wasn’t normal.
“What surprised us most was that the boat was moving very slowly, as if they weren’t in a hurry or afraid.
“They went in where there were most people, as if nothing had happened, and stopped five metres from the shore.
“Then they jumped off one by one, and the four remaining on board, some of them hooded, calmly turned around and left.”
While some of the group tried to make a run for it once they reached the beach, others are said to have tried to blend in with the crowd.
But some of the sunseekers are said to have involved themselves by detaining some of the migrants until Spain’s Civil Guard could arrive. In another clip, an individual appears to be reaching to grab the ankles of a migrant who is running.
Footage shows a man wearing nothing but his swimming trunks as he pins one of the men on the ground.
The Polica Local de Castell de Ferro added: “The lifeguards alerted us, and we managed to catch one on the street. Then we helped identify two more.
“The Civil Guard did the bulk of the work and managed to arrest nine.”
Earlier today, responding to the UK’s migrant difficulties, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said small boat arrivals will be detained to be returned to France “in a matter of days”.
Ms Cooper said people who cross the Channel will be taken into custody “immediately on arrival”. A new one-in-one-out deal – the first agreement to return migrants to France since Brexit – will come into force on Wednesday.
Ms Cooper told Sky News: “The first step will be to be detaining people because people will be detained until they are removed to France. And we expect those detentions to start in a matter of days.” It comes after The Mirror’s Kevin Maguire wrote: ‘Labour must find engaging story for the UK – or face election wipeout’.
Describing the deal – which is starting as a year-long pilot scheme – she said: “It will start with the numbers being lower and then we’ll build up. But I think this is really important – the groundbreaking principle here is that people can be returned to France if they arrive on these dangerous and illegal small boats.
“In return, we will take people who have applied legally through a legal process and been through security checks. But we should be returning people who have made these illegal crossings.”
The Home Secretary refused to be drawn on the numbers who would be involved in the exchange deal. It has been reported that around 50 people will be sent back to France each week – but the Government has refused to confirm this.