Madrid:
A Spanish mayor has apologised after being accused of racism by Romanian immigrants for a foul-mouthed tirade against thieves, the latest in a recent string of race scandals in Spain.
The row spiced up campaigning on Friday for the May 25 European elections. It also followed earlier race controversies involving a Barcelona football player and a Jewish basketball team.
Mayor Josu Bergara was recorded in a meeting last year boasting that he had made sure "the scum no longer come" to his northern town of Sestao, in what was taken as a dig at Romanians.
Five Romanian families lodged a complaint against him in court, accusing him of illegally refusing to register them as residents in the Basque town.
They submitted a video of his outburst as evidence of racism to support their case, said the campaign group SOS Racismo, which aided the families.
"The scum no longer come to Sestao. I make sure they leave, by thumping them," he was recorded saying at a meeting in June 2013.
Bergara, of the conservative Basque Nationalist Party, apologised on Thursday after the video was broadcast by media covering the court case.
He said he had been referring to "delinquents" in general, not Romanians in particular as the plaintiffs alleged.
"I acknowledge that the comments that have come to light were inappropriate. We want Sestao to be a multicultural, hard-working and civil place," he said.
"We cannot allow people to come here to rob. In the video I was referring to delinquents and antisocial people," he added.
Punishing hate speech
SOS Racismo said it was "unacceptable that his comments be played down, even if the apology is sincere".
The group's spokesman Patxi de la Fuente told AFP the mayor had for years been refusing registration -- a procedure necessary for access to schools and social services -- to foreign families including Moroccans and Latin Americans.
Romanians are the biggest nationality group among the five million foreigners in Spain, according to the National Statistics Institute. They numbered about 795,000 in 2013.
It was the latest in a string of high-profile racism rows in Spain in recent weeks.
On April 27 a man threw a banana on the pitch near Barcelona's Brazilian defender Dani Alves in a league football match against Villareal.
Alves defiantly picked up the banana and took a bite before getting on with the game.
The incident drew international attention to racist incidents in Spanish football.
Just a week later, Levante's Senegalese midfielder Pape Diop condemned Atletico Madrid fans for making monkey chants at him.
This week Jewish groups said that Twitter users in Spain posted 17,500 messages of anti-Semitic abuse after Israeli basketball team Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Real Madrid.
The Spanish government has vowed to strengthen penalties for inciting hatred or violence.
The number two candidate for Spain's ruling conservative Popular Party in Sunday's European elections, Esteban Gonzalez Pons, called for Bergara's resignation.
The opposition Socialists called the mayor's comments "unacceptable and indecent".
The row spiced up campaigning on Friday for the May 25 European elections. It also followed earlier race controversies involving a Barcelona football player and a Jewish basketball team.
Mayor Josu Bergara was recorded in a meeting last year boasting that he had made sure "the scum no longer come" to his northern town of Sestao, in what was taken as a dig at Romanians.
Five Romanian families lodged a complaint against him in court, accusing him of illegally refusing to register them as residents in the Basque town.
They submitted a video of his outburst as evidence of racism to support their case, said the campaign group SOS Racismo, which aided the families.
"The scum no longer come to Sestao. I make sure they leave, by thumping them," he was recorded saying at a meeting in June 2013.
Bergara, of the conservative Basque Nationalist Party, apologised on Thursday after the video was broadcast by media covering the court case.
He said he had been referring to "delinquents" in general, not Romanians in particular as the plaintiffs alleged.
"I acknowledge that the comments that have come to light were inappropriate. We want Sestao to be a multicultural, hard-working and civil place," he said.
"We cannot allow people to come here to rob. In the video I was referring to delinquents and antisocial people," he added.
Punishing hate speech
SOS Racismo said it was "unacceptable that his comments be played down, even if the apology is sincere".
The group's spokesman Patxi de la Fuente told AFP the mayor had for years been refusing registration -- a procedure necessary for access to schools and social services -- to foreign families including Moroccans and Latin Americans.
Romanians are the biggest nationality group among the five million foreigners in Spain, according to the National Statistics Institute. They numbered about 795,000 in 2013.
It was the latest in a string of high-profile racism rows in Spain in recent weeks.
On April 27 a man threw a banana on the pitch near Barcelona's Brazilian defender Dani Alves in a league football match against Villareal.
Alves defiantly picked up the banana and took a bite before getting on with the game.
The incident drew international attention to racist incidents in Spanish football.
Just a week later, Levante's Senegalese midfielder Pape Diop condemned Atletico Madrid fans for making monkey chants at him.
This week Jewish groups said that Twitter users in Spain posted 17,500 messages of anti-Semitic abuse after Israeli basketball team Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Real Madrid.
The Spanish government has vowed to strengthen penalties for inciting hatred or violence.
The number two candidate for Spain's ruling conservative Popular Party in Sunday's European elections, Esteban Gonzalez Pons, called for Bergara's resignation.
The opposition Socialists called the mayor's comments "unacceptable and indecent".
