The murder of the nightclub doorman Álvaro tenses coexistence in Peal de Becerro

“Out killers.

You don't kill in Peal”, could be read this Tuesday on the abandoned banners next to the house of the alleged murderer of Álvaro Soto, a security guard at an entertainment venue who was stabbed to death early last Sunday morning after warning four young people that they couldn't take the crystal glasses out on the street.

With those words, his life was taken from him.

The death of Álvaro, 29, ignited the spark in Peal de Becerro (Jaén), where almost half of its 5,300 inhabitants took to the streets on Monday night to demand justice for the death of the young nightclub doorman.

The four involved in the attack were arrested.

The peaceful demonstration was followed by the protest of a minority of rioters who, circumventing police surveillance, overturned three vehicles and caused damage and left graffiti on several homes in the Peal gypsy community, one of which was the object of a fire that had they put down the firefighters.

The tension has moved this Tuesday to another town, Puente de Génave (2,166 inhabitants), where two of the four detainees who were released had taken refuge.

The riots on Monday night ended without personal injury, because the fifty members of the gypsy community who live in Peal had already left the town for fear of neighborhood anger.

Just a few hours later, the Civil Guard arrested four people accused of Álvaro's murder.

The two oldest, aged 28 and 30, are free with charges because they did not participate in the brawl that ended fatally, but the other two, two cousins ​​aged 18 and 20, have testified before the Court of First Instance and Instruction Number 1 de Cazorla that has agreed to the entry into provisional prison, communicated and without bail of the two men who have been accused of a crime of homicide.

"We ask for justice and that Álvaro's murderers pay," commented Braulio and María Isabel, owners of the Triana bar, located a few meters from the pub where the security guard lost his life.

"Look here," warns the owner of a bar with hardly any customers at noon, "I don't let the gypsies in here anymore because whenever they come they make a mess and don't want to pay, they are people who don't want to integrate."

According to what is being experienced in the town these days, the feeling of this couple is shared by residents of Peal de Becerro, who on Monday, in addition to asking for justice, demonstrated with cries of "assassins, get out of town" .

Calm had returned to Peal de Becerro on Tuesday, although the tension experienced in the town hours before was still palpable.

According to the account of the events of the Civil Guard, after the demonstration of some 2,000 neighbors that took place peacefully, the protest was dissolved, but a thousand of them skipped the police device and accessed Andrés Segovia street, where the families of the alleged perpetrators of the murder.

Initially, they overturned two vehicles and raided several houses of Roma citizens (which were empty), causing material damage and writing graffiti against the Roma ethnic group.

Later, almost at dawn, another minority group went to Del Sol street, where more Roma families live, although without any connection to those arrested.

And it was here that the greatest damage occurred, the overturning of another car and the partial fire of a house.

The Civil Guard keeps proceedings open both for the overturning of the vehicles and for the fire in the house.

dark and sad days

The residents of Peal de Becerro during the demonstration last Monday in rejection of the death of a nightclub doorman in the municipality.

The mayor of Peal de Becerro, David Rodríguez (PSOE), is clear that his municipality is experiencing "the darkest and most mournful days of its history."

Rodríguez calls for the calm of his citizens, although he says forcefully: "We will not stop until the perpetrators of the murder pay for Álvaro's death."

The local municipe highlighted the "peaceful" nature of the protests of his countrymen and, regarding the incidents that occurred at night, he has attributed them to "a very minority minority."

Virtually all the members of the Peal de Becerro gypsy community have left the municipality.

The two detainees who remain free with charges had taken refuge in the house of relatives in the town of Puente de Génave, but citizen pressure in this place has also forced them to leave this town.

Ramón Gallego, socialist mayor of Puente de Génave, addressed his neighbors on Tuesday asking for calm and tried to abort a spontaneous demonstration that had been called through social networks.

"Neither the City Council nor I have authorized anyone to stay here (...) And well, let the righteous not pay for sinners, because here the gypsy community has always been integrated with us," said the councilman from Puente.

However, from the Federation of Gypsy Women's Associations, Kamira, after expressing her revulsion at the death of the pub's doorman, has requested protection for the Gypsy families of the municipality.

"The events that have occurred in no way justify the demonstrations that, to the cry of 'murderers', have taken place against the community of Peal, or the threats that have caused several families to temporarily move away from the town for fear of reprisals," It is indicated in the statement of the Kamira association, which also asks that the Roma community not be stigmatized.

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