Gibraltarian has Spanish flag removed in Sotogrande

The offending flag
(Photo: europasur.es)

SAN ROQUE / Sotogrande With Spain heading towards winning the Euro 2012 football championships (we hope), controversy and nationalistic acrimony has raised its ugly head in the luxury resort of Sotogrande. It turns out that a Gibraltarian resident supposedly protested about the presence of a Spanish flag on the security guard's box at the Paniagua entrance to the resort. It all began last week, when a guard decided to show his support for the national team by hanging a flag under a window on the front of his stall. It remained there until about 8pm on Monday, when it was ordered down by the maintenance company Parques de Sotogrande, which, according to one source, had received complaints about it from a Gibraltarian woman. Naturally enough, Spanish residents were highly indignant and showed their displeasure by hanging out Spanish flags out of their own properties and vehicles.>>>

However, the general manager of the company, has said that they had never received any complaints. Instead, Sergio Sánchez offered three not particularly convincing reasons behind the order to remove the flag (which is why we haven't put them up here). He vehemently denied that the subject arose from a complaint by ab Gibraltarian: "That's all we need," he said. He maintains that a security gate is not an appropriate place to hang a flag. Nevertheless, It has been going up and been taken down several times since then, presumably because a number of Spanish neighbours have made their protests heard.