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Spanish teens' Gibraltar invasion riles UK press

Alex Dunham
Alex Dunham - [email protected]
Spanish teens' Gibraltar invasion riles UK press
The YouTube video, described as "shameful" and "shocking" by commentators, is the latest in a long list of somewhat trivial events which are keeping the Gibraltar Spain dispute burning bright.

A Spanish schoolteacher has apologized profusely "to the people of Great Britain" after he posted a video of a group of children staging an invasion of Gibraltar in which they "shot" British holidaymakers.

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The YouTube video, described as "shameful" and "shocking" by commentators, is the latest in a long list of somewhat trivial events which are keeping the Gibraltar Spain dispute burning bright.

Julián Trullenque, a schoolteacher in the district of Valsalada in north-eastern Spain, uploaded the footage of a group of teenagers taking part in a fancy dress competition which was part of the local festivities.

The video shows some of the youngsters dressed as British tourists as another group wearing Spanish civil guard costumes rock up with toy guns and an army tank, shoot them and take their seats.

The UK’s Daily Telegraph picked up on the "story" and landed Trullenque in some trouble by implying it was a school play staged by his pupils.

"The Telegraph journalist published my name, and said it was a play at the school where I worked,” he told the UK's Huffington Post.

"The background is a bar! It is not a play, or a school."

"Is this what they are teaching the youth of Spain? To create hatred among neighbouring countries in the European Community?," wrote one of the misinformed YouTube viewers.

In a follow-up article on Monday, the Daily Telegraph published Trullenque's apology "to the people of Great Britain" for his "clumsiness".

"It was a group of kids who did this without any malice and without thinking that it would become important," he told the UK newspaper.

"The people who are applauding were the same – they were applauding the form of the play, and not the content. There is no message in this. It was part of a festival."

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