Sunday, March 17, 2013

Immigrant badly injured after assault at festival

Moulaye Ndiaye. Photo by Jesus Cisnes from lasprovincias.es.
"Moulaye Ndiaye, a street vendor and native from Senegal, was thrown from a bridge on the eve of the 2012 Tomatina Festival in Buñol, Valencia, Spain. 


Moulaye was selling his products at the festival when a young man stole his sunglasses. After asking, without success, for the man to return them, Moulaye decided to leave, and then he was shoved and pushed over a bridge more than six metres from the ground. The backpack which he was carrying and the reeds growing in the area where he fell [probably]saved his life. 

He spent a month in intensive care at the Manises Hospital with traumas, several broken ribs and a spinal injury. The assault has caused him to lose sight in his right eye and a very serious neck and back injury has prevented him from working since.


In its blog, and on its Facebook wall, the Movement Against Intolerance seeks the help of those who witnessed the assault, asking them to make contact with the organisation so that the case can remain open, as the police have been unable to find the aggressor who escaped into the night. There has also been a large civilian mobilisation  which still continues, and the residents of the town of Buñol say they are horrified at this tragic event."

More details here at Global Voices online.

2 comments:

thecatalanway said...

What a terrible story. And it's not just the violence but the injustice that is awful. People doing things and getting away with it is so hard to accept in this world. thanks for writing about this - I hadn't seen the story. There is so much that I don't see reported here and I never know if it is because of the language which makes me miss it or perhaps things aren't reported the same way as they are in the UK. Kate

Brett said...

Yes Kate, it is very hard to accept this without indignation. (That word fits here too.) I've been surprised at the strength of feeling against these "top-manta" guys. I saw a poster at our local train station urging people not to buy from them. Apparently this is a great problem! To me, they are completely small-time operators and harmless and deserve an income like anyone else.