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The UK has counted Gibraltar as a colony since 1713 |
Gibraltar's
government has said fishing with large nets in the area is illegal because of
an environmental law.
But Spain
claims sovereignty over the UK colony and its foreign ministry has said it
supports the right of Spanish boats to fish in its waters.
The Spanish
and UK foreign secretaries are due to meet in London on Tuesday.
Spain's
foreign ministry has said the fishing dispute will not affect its relations
with Britain, which has counted Gibraltar as a colony since 1713.
'Defending
rights'
On
Thursday, media reported that several Royal Gibraltar Police boats had
surrounded three Spanish fishing vessels after they cast their nets near
Gibraltar harbour the night before.
Gibraltarian
news agency GBC News said several Spanish Guardia Civil boats appeared to be
defending the fishermen, but were told to leave by the Gibraltarian police.
The Spanish
boats reportedly left the area later after a Royal Navy vessel arrived and told
them again to depart.
GBC news
quoted Gibraltar's chief minister, Fabian Picardo, as condemning what were
"obviously carefully premeditated challenges to our indisputable
sovereignty, jurisdiction and control of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters
and our airspace".
A UK
Foreign Office statement confirmed that Britain's minister for Europe, David
Lidington, had met with Mr Picardo to discuss various issues, including the
fishing dispute and recent incidents in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.
It said Mr
Lidington had reiterated that the UK would "never enter into arrangements
under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another
state against their wishes".
But Spanish
Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told reporters Madrid would continue to
dispatch police boats to protect Spanish fishermen in the area to defend
"the fishing rights of our fishermen".
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