Monday 3 August 2015

Governor calls on Spanish authorities to acknowledge "gravity" of incursion

Governor calls on Spanish authorities to acknowledge "gravity" of incursion

We will keep adding the pressure that is needed so that the people in Gibraltar do not have to fear using their pleasure boats or swimming in our waters!

The UK Government and the FCO keep trying to downplay the incursions as they reiterate they are not acts of war!

Although we agree the incursions may not be acts of war - what do you call them instead?

Whatever one chooses to call them, they are both illegal and dangerous.

We welcome the statement from Sir James Dutton that clearly leaves no doubt on the seriousness of these incursions!

Now this is the sort of statement that we expect from Our Governor and Ex-Royal Marine!

But what we need is action not words!

The questions we must ask is - why didn't  the RGP or the Royal Navy make an arrest?

Who is stopping them? THE FCO say it is up to RGP? But is it really? What is going on behind the scenes that we do not know about?

This incursion is a clear violation so how can you expect people to respect the laws if those who break it from another country are not made to face the consequences of their acts!

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Courtesy www.gbc.gi


Video Footage of the incursions - https://youtu.be/jHLS4NKtHCk


The Governor, Sir James Dutton, has called on the Spanish authorities to acknowledge the gravity of the actions of the crew of a Spanish state vessel that carried out an incursion into Gibraltar Waters on Saturday, and to take all necessary steps to ensure there is no repetition. Meanwhile the Government says this is another glaringly obvious example of a Spanish state vessel attempting to assert its authority well-inside our territorial limits. 
In a statement, Number Six confirms that at around six thirty on Saturday afternoon the Spanish Customs vessel, 'Aguila IV', chased a Gibraltar-registered pleasure boat within British Gibraltar Territorial Waters, and inside the demarcated buoys at Camp Bay. The vessel was about one nautical mile off Europa Point when it was circled by the SVA launch and the occupants, who claim to have been fishing at the time, asked to produce documentation. They took refuge in the area of Camp Bay and called for help.
The Spanish patrol boat returned to Spain when the RGP, GDP and Royal Navy launches arrived and warnings were read. The Spanish authorities claimed the pleasure boat had been off Estepona and failed to stop when asked to do so. The pleasure craft was escorted to the Marine Base where the occupants said they'd run away for fear of being boarded.
Acting Chief Minister, Doctor Joseph Garcia said: "It could hardly be clearer that the vessel had no jurisdiction to operate at Europa Point and even less a few metres from a beach at Camp Bay." He adds that quite apart from the serious political issues, the incident also raises the dangers of a state vessel operating within a demarcated bathing area.

This view has been echoed by the Governor, who has expressed serious concern about the incident. Sir James Dutton says the manoeuvres carried out by the Spanish vessel just metres from the shoreline were irresponsible and dangerous, as well as unlawful. He says they presented a significant risk to the safety of the public, adding that under no circumstances should Spanish vessels be provoking a situation that could result in serious injury or a fatality.
Sir James says that while the UK's sovereignty over British Gibraltar Territorial Waters is not affected by such incursions, their repeated occurrence is nevertheless unlawful and unacceptable. He confirms that the British Government will be protesting this latest incident directly with the Spanish Government.






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The Opposition have stated:

not enough" done by British Government to ensure incursions cease

The Opposition says the incursion on Saturday had all the hallmarks of a potential tragedy. It points out it happened when Camp Bay was full of bathers enjoying what is supposed to be a safe area. The opposition believes the incident illustrates that not enough is being done by the British Government to ensure these illegal activities cease. It believes it is obvious that any diplomatic pressure being exerted is having little effect and that sooner or later there will be a tragic accident.
Opposition Leader Daniel Feetham asks whether the British Government would tolerate these repeated incursions off the Coast of Portsmouth, when UK residents were being put at risk.The defence of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters, he says, is a matter for the British Government and not our local law enforcement agencies.
The Opposition says it stands squarely behind the law enforcement agencies on this issue, adding they do a very difficult job in difficult circumstances. It adds that as with lobbying in Spain, attendance at the UN and the Brexit Referendum, the Opposition is prepared to work with the Government
Photo below - courtesy YGYV

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Defenders of Gibraltar do a lot of campaigning behind the scenes to help raise the awareness of the issues we face.
We will continue until such time as the Foreign office and the UK Government do what is our right and their responsibility - Defend British Gibraltar Territorial Waters!
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Below is one of our recent outcome as captured by GBC News

Courtesy of www,gbc.gi - http://www.gbc.gi/news/foreign-office-tells-defenders-gibraltar-incursions-are-not-acts-war-30158

The Foreign Office has written to the Defenders of Gibraltar, after the Group highlighted Incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.  In the letter, it says, the British Government, from the prime Minister down, is working extremely hard to protect and assert the rights of Gibraltar and Gibraltarians in the EU and broader International contexts.  
It reiterates the naval mission is constantly assessed, adding it does not rule out any measures that are necessary to defend Gibraltar from a genuine threat to its security or defence.  However, it goes on to say, it remains the British Government's view that the maritime incursions we have seen so far, carry no such threat and although a violation of sovereignty and a misguided attempt to assert Spain's longstanding claim that the waters around Gibraltar are Spanish,-they are not acts of war or military aggression.  It adds it's the Foreign Office's assessment that the current MOD resource in Gibraltar is equal to its tasking.
The Group has also highlighted Saturdays incident.
A copy of the correspondence may  be viewed below:
SUNDAY 2ND AUGUST
HI
Firstly thank you for your reply. However, we have to raise that yet again yesterday we had another dangerous incursion in our Bathing areas. Please contact our Governor for more information.
My question to you all is - Will you all wait for a death before you actually take action? The incursion commenced off Europa POint with our locals using their pleasure boats and ended up on our shorelines on our western side.
THE Spanish SVA actually entered the demarcated swimming areas! THis is yet another dangerous act of breaking our laws!
By the time the RGP and the Naval Gibraltar Squadron arrived, they had already endangered the lives of those on the pleasure boats and the swimmers! Remember that before they entered the bathing area the navy squadron had already given them radio warnings to leave Gibraltar Territorial Waters! But they did not go out until the issue escalated to the beaches on the western side!
We are all now extremely worried on the amount of incursions and the lack of actions by you all. DO we have to be afraid to use our own pleasure boats and go swimming in our waters because none of you want to do the right thing?
We are not asking for a war - but we are demanding protection! This is our right!
Please ensure some action is done before we have a death and you will all be held responsible for the negligence in this matter!
I hope to hear some plan of action from you despite it is summer break!
Thank you
Anne-Marie Struggles
Chairperson for Defenders of Gibraltar
 31 JULY 2015 
Dear Ms Struggles,
Thank you for your email of 5th July about incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW). I have been asked to reply as a member of the Gibraltar Team at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London.
The UK Government, from the Prime Minister down, is working extremely hard to protect and assert the rights of Gibraltar and Gibraltarians in the EU and broader international contexts. The Government remains unreservedly resolute in its commitment never to enter into arrangements under which UK sovereignty over Gibraltar would pass to another State against the wishes of the people of Gibraltar, and not to enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content. This “double-lock” on sovereignty is the keystone of our policy on Gibraltar.
Unlawful incursions into BGTW, are an unacceptable violation of British sovereignty and we protest them as such to the government of Spain.
The Royal Gibraltar Police are responsible for upholding the law in BGTW while the Royal Navy is responsible for upholding sovereignty over BGTW. Both the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron and the Royal Gibraltar Police will continue to carry out their responsibilities within BGTW, responding to any incidents as appropriate including challenging unlawful maritime incursions within BGTW.
The naval mission, its assets and people required to deliver it are re assed on regular basis, so that responsibilities can be carried out effectively. We do not rule out any measures that are necessary to defend Gibraltar from a genuine threat to its security or defence.
However, it remains the Government’s view that the maritime incursions we have seen so far have carried no such threat. Although they are a violation of sovereignty - and a misguided attempt to assert Spain’s longstanding claim that the waters around Gibraltar are Spanish - they are not acts of war or military aggression. And they do not weaken or undermine the legal basis for British sovereignty over Gibraltar, including BGTW. It is also our assessment that the current MoD resource in Gibraltar is equal to our tasking (though this is subject to continuous review).
We stand ready to do whatever is required to protect Gibraltar’s sovereignty, economy and security. We believe that it is in the interests of Spain, Gibraltar and the United Kingdom to avoid incidents such as this that damage the prospects for establishing dialogue and cooperation.
Yours sincerely,
Mediterranean Department 
5TH JULY
Dear SIr/ Madam
Please pass on this letter to the following people:
The Rt Hon Lord Maude of Horsham
The Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP
The Rt Hon David Lidington MP
The Rt Hon Baroness Anelay of St Johns DBE
James Duddridge MP
Tobias Ellwood MP
We would like to raise our concern on the lack of action on defending the Gibraltar from the constant incursions by Spanish Paramilitary Guardia Civil and the State research vessels.
This is not the first time and you have the statistics of this year alone!
We are outraged by the lack of action and we would like to know why this lack of action in protecting the Integrity of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.
I attach the photos taken of the recent one but I invite you to view our blog to keep up to date to your lack of action and the consequences of that!
Are you waiting for an accident or a death at sea? We will hold you account to any loss of life or injury caused to the non protective action you have continued to stand for.
Gibraltar deserves to be protected and we are not 3rd class British citizens.
Listen to the recent incursion the audio is clear and the probe hit the Royal Navy Rhib!
You are failing!
We ask you take action now and we would like a response as soon as possible.
Kind Regards
Anne-Marie Struggles
Chairperson
Defenders of Gibraltar Group
**What

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Sunday 2 August 2015

Spanish Authorities enter Gibraltar waters within the demarcated swimming areas!

Spanish Authorities enter Gibraltar waters within the demarcated swimming areas!


Yes once again we have the Spanish authorities trying to assert authority in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters!

Courtesy of a friend















This is a serious incident! Are we going to wait for a death to happen!

Incursion into BGTW: "Unacceptable and Unwarranted." The Governor personally discusses an "appropriate diplomatic response" with London.

So what will the action be by our Governor and FCO and our Government? WORDS, WORDS and MORE WORDS!

Words mean nothing! Words with action do!

It is about time that Spanish authority vessels are captured and arrested and let it go to the international courts!

Doing nothing but words is going to lead to an accident or worse a death!

Below is one video capturing this incursion!

https://youtu.be/jHLS4NKtHCk

Another video 

- https://www.facebook.com/100005350545096/videos/o.266886966744455/423824807805867/?type=2&theater



GBC news reports.. www.gbc.gi 

'Serious' Incursion by Spanish SVA: Governor takes it up with London

The Governor is discussing with London an appropriate diplomatic response to an incursion by a Spanish State vessel on Saturday afternoon.  Sir James Dutton says he's followed the reports of the incident closely and has been fully briefed by both the Royal Gibraltar Police and the Royal Navy.   He's told GBC, it's clear that this has been  an "unacceptable and unwarranted" incursion into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters by a Spanish State Vessel.  The Foreign Office will also be making representations to London and Madrid.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Sunday, the Government said: " This is another glaringly obvious example of a Spanish state vessel attempting to assert its authority well inside our territorial limits."
The Statement from Number Six confirms that at around six thirty on Saturday afternoon, the Spanish Customs vessel, 'Aguila IV', chased a Gibraltar-registered pleasure boat within British Gibraltar Territorial Waters, and inside the demarcated buoys at Camp Bay.  
The pleasure boat, had been stationed about one nautical mile off Europa point, when it was circled by the SVA, and the occupants, who claim to have been fishing, asked to produce documentation. It took refuge in the area of Camp Bay and called for assistance.  
The SVA launch returned to Spain when the RGP, GDP and Royal Navy launches arrived and warnings were read. The Spanish Authorities claimed the pleasure boat had been off Estepona and had failed to stop when asked to do so.
The pleasure craft was escorted to the Marine Base where the occupants said they'd run away for fear of being boarded. 
Acting Chief Minister, Doctor Joseph Garcia says: " It could hardly be clearer that the vessels had no jurisdiction to operate at Europa Point and even less a few metres from a beach at Camp Bay."  He adds that quite apart from the serious political issues, the incident also raises the dangers of a state vessel operating within a demarcated bathing area.
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Eyewitnesses report Spanish Servicio Vigilancia Aduanera
launch giving chase to pleasure craft inside buoys in Rosia 
Bay.
Also MR KR states his opinion on Social Media
To say that I am BEYOND INCENSED is the UNDERSTATEMENT of my 37 year old Gibraltarian life!
Guardia Civil (That's Spanish paramilitary) have this afternoon not just BREACHED INTERNATIONAL LAW by coming into British Gibraltar WATERS BUT ALSO Breached LOCAL LAW by having their patrol vessel coming into an area designated for SWIMMERS ONLY (with the dangers that accompany a fast launch coming into an area heavily populated with swimmers in a beach in Gibraltar on an August Summer's day at peak time), and acting like they have jurisdiction in British Gibraltar!!!!!!!!!

How VERY DARE THEY!
They dare so because the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, under which Gibraltar and our Security comes under, have ALLOWED THEM TO by ALLOWING HUNDREDS UPON HUNDREDS OF BREACHES AND INCURSIONS into BRITISH GIBRALTAR WATERS for the past few years.
They dare so, because the CONVENT, seat of the Governor, HM The Queen's Rep in Gibraltar HAS FAILED to PRESSURE the FCO INTO ACTION.
They DARE SO because OUR Government HAS FAILED TO PRESSURE the CONVENT into putting on the PRESSURE on the FCO.
They dare so, because the British Government, the FCO and the Convent have been laughing in our faces, treating us like FOOLS, DISRESPECTING US - THE GIBRALTARIANS all for the sake of keeping GOOD RELATIONS with SPAIN, a HOSTILE NATION that OPTS TO BULLY the GIBRALTARIANS on the basis that we ARE and HAVE CHOSEN to REMAIN BRITISH.
My question - with so many lawyers in Parliament, quien va ser el guapo o la guapa who will bother to sit down, analyse the situation, and prepare a LEGAL CHALLENGE AGAINST THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT for NEGLECTING THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY to PROTECT Gibraltar and ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR Gibraltar's SECURITY????? Doing so will NOT make us any LESS British if anyone is worried of that - it is merely calling on them for FAILING US!
Aqui que somos tontos o que pasa???? If this were the 70s or 80s, Gibraltarians would have taken to the street to demonstrate!!!! WHY ARE WE ALLOWING OURSELVES to be TREATED like Second Class, or worse, FOOLS???!! I don't know about the rest, but I certainly don't like it when I am treated like a FOOL! (See David Cameron's national Day Message and also HM Queen's Message about Security in Gibraltar).
Our ANCESTORS who FOUGHT SO MUCH WOULD BE SO ASHAMED RIGHT NOW!
Perhaps, since our Nation ranks so well in terms of finance, we SHOULD start PAYING FOR OUR OWN SECURITY?!
@KevGibraltar 

Republished on Speak Freely and also via @KevGibraltar. 

RAISING the GIBRALTARIAN VOICE WHEN WE ARE DISRESPECTED!
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Gibraltar Government Press Release
BREAKING PRESS RELEASE FROM No6: SPANISH STATE VESSEL IN CAMP BAY
A serious incursion took place yesterday evening when a Spanish state vessel attempted to assert its authority, not only inside BGTW, but within a few metres of the shoreline.At around 1830, a Spanish customs vessel (SVA), the Aguila IV, chased a Gibraltar-registered pleasure boat within BGTW and inside the demarcated buoys at Camp Bay. 
The pleasure boat had been stationary about 1 nautical mile off Europa Point when it was circled by the SVA which had approached from the Bay making its way past the North Mole.It had earlier been given the UNCLOS warning over radio and did not respond.
When approached by launches from RGP and GDP and by a Navy RHIB, the crew of the Spanish vessel claimed that, earlier, the pleasure boat had been off Estepona and had failed to stop when asked to do so.
Having been informed that it had no jurisdiction inside BGTW, the Aguila IV was then escorted into Spanish waters. The two occupants of the pleasure boat later claimed when questioned that they were fishing off Europa Point when the SVA vessel had requested their documentation. They had moved into Camp Bay and called for assistance.
'This is another glaringly obvious example of a Spanish state vessel attempting to assert its authority well inside our territorial limits. It could hardly be clearer that the vessel had no jurisdiction to operate at Europa Point and even less just a few metres from a beach at Camp Bay,' said the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia. 'Quite apart from the serious political issues raised by this matter, it is also dangerous for a state vessel to operate in this way inside a demarcated bathing area. This is illegal in the face of internationally-recognised Laws of the Sea.'
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(Photo courtesy Tania Pereira.)

This should not be allowed! Wake up Gibraltar! Before it is too late and one of our own is injured or die!

As reported by another Social Media Post Vadar Boats
Today's chase!! I saw 3 or 4 boats fishing just of europa point, all of a sudden the Augila IV (spanish aduana boat) started to approach one of the local fishing boats in the area at a very high speed, for what i saw the to men onboard the local fishing boat got intimidated by the Augila IV and started making way to a safe haven in the bay of Gibraltar. Augila IV continued intimidating the local fishing boat even inside the saftey bouys at camp bay.
 I was meters away from the local fishing boat at the scene at camp bay and it was clear that it was only two lads who were trying to enjoy a peaceful day out at sea fishing and totaly spoiled by the Spanish authorities in British Gibraltar Waters!!!

Do we have to be afraid to use our pleasure boats in 
our  own waters?

Why is the FCO so adamant to only send paper protests? - 
we want action and we want it now!

I guess getting the Queen to visit Spain is more 

important than the lives of the British people in 

Gibraltar!

How ignorant are the FCO and the UK Government on 

the issues affecting Gibraltar!

How can they think - EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Will an old queen and a young king be able to heal the festering UK/Spain dispute over Gibraltar?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3178086/EPHRAIM-HARDCASTLE-old-queen-young-king-able-heal-festering-UK-Spain-dispute-Gibraltar.html#ixzz3hesowJAd
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

The problem with SPAIN and Gibraltar is that UK does 
nothing to stop the bully that SPAIN is! A bully only 
stops when you force the boundaries and they suffer 
the consequences!

AMS