The Royal Gibraltar Police is aware of the concerns being expressed by the community arising from commentary and videos posted on Social Media, and the disturbances that took place in La Linea de La Concepcion following last night’s incident off Eastern Beach.

We wish to reassure the public that we are monitoring the situation and have been in contact with our Spanish counterparts since the incident took place. This is a tragic incident, which is currently under investigation. It has no doubt affected many on both sides of the frontier, none more so than the family of the deceased and those involved in the incident. Whilst we are certain that many are grieving the loss the deceased, we are confident that the vast majority of the public in the neighbouring region do not share some of the antagonistic sentiments and intentions expressed on Social Media.

We therefore advise restraint and urge the community not to fall into the trap of engaging in acrimonious exchanges on Social Media, exchanges, which only serve to incense feelings even more. We also urge members of our community not speculate on facts which have yet to be determined.

Whilst we have not received any reports of local residents or vehicles having been targeted in Spain, we nevertheless advise the public to use common sense and avoid areas or situations which may give rise to confrontation.