A Madrid suburb best known for a tacky Madonna-imitating transvestite and an Ikea has hit the headlines due to a ruck between Spanish locals and Latinos.Most reports seem to agree that the conflict took place following an argument over a basketball court "occupied" by a group of Latinos, and that this spiralled into a riot between Spaniards and immigrants, about 1,000 or so young people (1,000 Spaniards, the figures for the Latinos are unclear), and that the whole thing had been planned over the internet. Most reports also detail the various weapons used from knives and knuckledusters to guns and even swords(!)... but other details seem to vary depending on where you read the report.
Some sources refer to the object of the locals' ire as being Dominicans, others say they were Latin Kings, some call it a race riot while others say it was a protest against "delinquents" (fight fire with fire, eh?). Local politicians quoted in Spanish papers say that there have been no Latin Kings in Madrid for six months, while the BBC say that Latin Kings are "active" in Alcorcon.
I'll let you make your own minds up about whether this fracas is just a one-off or the tip of the iceberg... here is how the story was reported around the English-speaking world.
- BBC News
- Reuters UK
- Typically Spanish (Spain)
- ThinkSpain (Spain)
- International Herald Tribune (USA)
- Monsters and Critics
- Expatica (Holland)
- Upside Down World
- Vivir Latino (in English!)
You can also listen to a bizarre computer generated recording of the Herald Tribune story linked to above here, where Alcorcón is pronounced Al Cork'n.
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