There are parts of Motril where a tourist will never tread – not wittingly, at least – and there are families there whose members are not keen on being arrested… not keen at all. The following incident highlights this.
The Policía Nacional gingerly entered one such area with the firm intention of arresting a man, but after being shot at with a subaquatic harpoon gun they eventually came away with five members of the same family – not without calling for help from both the Policía Local and the Guardia Civil, mind.
The Policía Nacional had received a call on their 091 number to say that a feud-cum-brawl was taking place, so they wisely sent out various patrol cars. The first ones to arrived were received with the sort of cordiality expected; i.e., insults, jeering and the waving of the odd club, knife and object generally designed to bring a tear to your eye. Yet it wasn’t until they had a gentleman cornered on a balcony with a primed spear gun that they thought they might need a little more help, so they called for the municipal police – quite a surprising choice, some might consider.
Besides brandishing the said spear gun, he also had a machete tucked into his belt and, to be on the safe side and another in his other hand – in fact, given an eye patch and a pair of striped trousers, he wouldn’t have look out of place in a boarding party at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Just when the police thought that he was going to give up and come in off the balcony, he fired the spear gun, narrowly missing a policeman, with the spear lodging firmly and belligerently in a painting on the wall. Whilst the gathered might of the police force were admiring the painting, instantly converted into a collage, Errol Flynno attempted to escape down a piece of rope.
But he didn’t get far and was suitably handcuffed for the occasion, together with two other men and two women after being prized off of smitten policemen. But how to drive off with their unsavoury booty? This was the point when the Guardia Civil were called in to rescue the national and local police, plus help collect the frothing family members, and a minor arsenal of knives, cudgels, machetes and an exhausted-but-satisfied-looking spear gun.
Once the patrol cars had cleared the area the rest of the journey was uneventful and nobody was injured, although the painting later succumbed to its wound and died.
(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)