Line in the sand

BEACH hoggers reserving breakfast slots on Calpe's beaches will be fined for hindering daily cleaning work.

Calpe council has reminded beach users of local laws prohibiting planting deck chairs, hammocks, and umbrellas before 9.30am.

Any belongings found before then will be removed and owners fined.

Calpe's beaches councillor, Pere Moll, said: “We appeal to the civility of beach users to ensure beaches are not occupied before that time.”

Police powers also mean that any beach equipment unattended for more than three hours will be taken away.

For many years, Calpe council has received numerous complaints during the summer about people 'reserving' space on the beach with mid-morning arrivals finding large stretches occupied by sun beds and umbrellas with no owners in sight.

A PERUVIAN expat has called in lawyers over claims he was beaten up by police and left in hospital with a ruptured bladder.

In the alarming alleged attack, Diego Armando Torres, insists he was punched and kicked by six Guardia Civil agents on a Friday night. Even more shocking, he claims he was tied up and a plastic bag was put over his head nearly suffocating him.

“I actually feared for my life, particularly when one officer told me ‘you’re going to die’,” he told the Olive Press this week.

The incident happened when he and a friend were heading home to Sabinillas at 9:15pm, on June 16. Diego, 37, who arrived in Spain to work as a builder two months ago, had been out for some drinks in nearby Estepona.

“We were pulled over at a motorway police check just before arriving in Sabinillas,” he explained.

“They stopped us and asked my mate to step out of the car. I initially stayed

Expat resident says he was brutally beaten up by Guardia Civil officers

By Alberto Lejarraga

in the passenger’s seat, but then got out to ask what was going on.

“The agents told me to be quiet and not to speak, but I asked again if everything was okay.

“The police are now saying that I used force and kicked one of them, but this is not true.

“Suddenly they snapped and forced me to the ground and I was handcuffed and taken to a police car.”

His mate, from Bolivia, who wants to remain anonymous, confirmed the heavy-handed arrest.

“But when I dared ask a policeman why they were doing it, he replied; ‘do you also want to get hit?’

“Diego was put in a car and that was the last time I saw him that day,” explained his friend, who is also a builder.

The victim claims he was then taken to the Guardia Civil barracks in Manilva where he was grilled on what he was doing in Spain.

“I was very scared and just wanted to call someone,” he said. “Eventually they agreed but as I left my phone in the car I couldn’t remember any numbers apart from my brother’s, who lives in Norway, and they refused to call a foreign number.”

It was then that a couple of the officers started slapping him in the face telling him to ‘shut up’.

“I remember there were up to six of them taking turns to slap me,” he insisted.

“After a while they took me back to the car. I was terrified and I started screaming for help. Then, one of the officers punched me in the face through the open window, cutting open my left eyebrow.”

At this point the attack got far more sinister, he claims, after the police took him back to a different smaller and darker room at the station.

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“They tied my ankles and wrists together, covered my head with a plastic bag and started punching and kicking me in the stomach,” he claims.

BEATEN: Diego with ruptured bladder and (far left) face with cuts and bruises

“When I was about to asphyxiate, they would remove the bag then put it back on. They did this many times.

“An officer also stepped on my head, causing me injuries and bruises. They kicked and punched me in the stomach until I passed out from the pain.

“The worst ones were, I estimate, in their 30s and 40s, while two younger agents, probably in their 20s, did not do anything and actually tried to comfort me.”

After the brutal assault, he was taken to the Policia Local Station in Estepona, where he was put in a cell and fell asleep, but woke up around 3am with agonising stomach pain. Despite begging to go to hospital it wasn’t until 9.20am that three Guardia agents returned and took him to a GP in Estepona, where the doctor told the officers he had to be taken to hospital urgently.

He was taken to Marbella’s Costa del Sol Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery on a ‘ruptured bladder’.

He also ‘presented bruises on the head and face’ according to the official medical report seen by the Olive Press. Diego has since taken legal advice and is currently waiting to hear back from a public defender to file an official complaint.

A Guardia Civil official report claims Diego was arrested for kicking one of

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Ukraine help

THE outgoing Valencian government has allocated €12.7 million in relief to nearly 13,000 struggling Ukraine refugees who will get €400 each for three months, with €100 per child.

En route

THE night bus C6 line service suspended due to the pandemic has resumed between Alicante-Elche airport and Alicante city.

Cop boost

SUMMER security coverage has been boosted with nearly 1,900 extra Guardia Civil and Policia Nacional officers in Alicante province and just under 4,000 in Valencia province.

More jobs

JUNE’S unemployment total of 325,577 in the Valencian Community was the lowest since October 2009 with a 6.65% fall over 12 months.