Scott
05-24-2009, 01:18 PM
The Royal Navy have forced heavily armed Spanish ships to retreat after they tried to invade British waters around Gibraltar.
Brit warships were scrambled to see off heavily-armed Spanish patrol boats that entered British waters without permission to inspect fishing boats.
The incident echoes historic battles between the Spanish and Sir Francis Drake and the sinking of the Armada in 1588.
The Foreign Office has said it is taking the incident "very seriously".
The British territory on the south coast of Spain has been a continuing source of dispute between the two countries.
British ownership of the Rock of Gibraltar has long been a source of wounded Spanish pride, even though it's 30,000 residents are fiercely loyal to the Queen.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "It's a violation of British sovereignty and something we take very seriously indeed.
"We have made strong representations to the Spanish government. We hope they will stop doing it."
The latest incident took place on May 8 - a day after Gibraltar vowed to contest EU moves to hand responsibility for the area around the Rock to Spain.
Gibraltar's chief minister, Peter Caruana, yesterday accused Spanish politicians of trying to sabotage relations across the border.
And a spokesman for Gibraltar's opposition party said: "This latest incident is far more *serious than anything that has happened before. It represents a frontal challenge to British sovereignty, jurisdiction and control over Gibraltar's territorial sea.
"As such, the UK must not only respond to Spain, but must also extract guarantees from Madrid that it will never happen again."
There has been no official reaction from the Spanish Government.
The Spanish have refused to accept that Gibraltar has territorial waters because they are not mentioned in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, which handed it to Britain.
A week before the latest incident a Spanish launch manned by paramilitary cops was sent into Gibraltar's waters before being seen off by a Royal Navy patrol boat.
Brit warships were scrambled to see off heavily-armed Spanish patrol boats that entered British waters without permission to inspect fishing boats.
The incident echoes historic battles between the Spanish and Sir Francis Drake and the sinking of the Armada in 1588.
The Foreign Office has said it is taking the incident "very seriously".
The British territory on the south coast of Spain has been a continuing source of dispute between the two countries.
British ownership of the Rock of Gibraltar has long been a source of wounded Spanish pride, even though it's 30,000 residents are fiercely loyal to the Queen.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "It's a violation of British sovereignty and something we take very seriously indeed.
"We have made strong representations to the Spanish government. We hope they will stop doing it."
The latest incident took place on May 8 - a day after Gibraltar vowed to contest EU moves to hand responsibility for the area around the Rock to Spain.
Gibraltar's chief minister, Peter Caruana, yesterday accused Spanish politicians of trying to sabotage relations across the border.
And a spokesman for Gibraltar's opposition party said: "This latest incident is far more *serious than anything that has happened before. It represents a frontal challenge to British sovereignty, jurisdiction and control over Gibraltar's territorial sea.
"As such, the UK must not only respond to Spain, but must also extract guarantees from Madrid that it will never happen again."
There has been no official reaction from the Spanish Government.
The Spanish have refused to accept that Gibraltar has territorial waters because they are not mentioned in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, which handed it to Britain.
A week before the latest incident a Spanish launch manned by paramilitary cops was sent into Gibraltar's waters before being seen off by a Royal Navy patrol boat.