Racist attack in Manresa: two arrested for assaulting and insulting Muslim women in the middle of the street

BarcelonaSerious racist attack in Manresa. The Mossos d'Esquadra have arrested a man and a woman for assaulting a group of Muslim women while insulting them with racist comments and against their religion. It happened this Sunday around eight in the evening on Baixada dels Drets, a central point in the capital of Bages.

According to the police reconstruction of events —based on various testimonies—, the two detainees, aged 44 and 47, began to insult a group of women wearing hijabs with racist comments. Afterwards, a fight broke out with the group of women, which consisted of mothers and daughters. Four women suffered contusions to the face after receiving several punches and had to be taken to the hospital.

A patrol of the Mossos d'Esquadra heard the shouts and attended the scene. At the same location, they arrested the man and the woman for crimes of assault and also a hate crime, as reported by Nació Manresa and confirmed by ARA. The Mossos believe that the attack has a clearly racist motivation. In fact, some witnesses claim that the couple had been insulting women wearing hijabs for a while. The detainees are expected to be brought before the court in the coming hours. According to what ARA has learned, the two detainees have previous convictions for various crimes.

A video recorded by a witness is circulating on social media. ARA has confirmed that it is indeed the incident recorded this Sunday in Manresa. In this recording, several people can be seen struggling and one of the detainees rips the hijab from one of the women. The victims also try to defend themselves and at some moments assault the arrestees. The video also shows the arrival of the police and how other neighbors try to separate the aggressors and the victims.