Spain: Locals Tackle Migrants After Boat Lands on Beach

Wild video shows shocked sunbathers tackling around a dozen migrants who jumped off a boat just feet from the shore of a packed beach in Spain.

Footage shows a black motorboat pulling up to the shallows at Sotillo beach in the Granada town of Castell de Ferro on Sunday afternoon and several migrants, believed to be from North Africa, diving into the sea fully clothed, according to Spanish paper El Mundo.

As they reach the shore, they are chased by waiting law enforcement — with beachgoers joining in the chase.

One video, obtained by Grenada-based outlet Ideal, shows a man in a bathing suit who had tackled one of the men holding him on the ground with his knee in his back until the man is handed over to Spain’s Civil Guard.

Local police also assisted.

One witness described the scene as “surreal.”

“We all stood there staring, not quite knowing what was happening. We thought it was a recreational boat, but when we saw people starting to throw objects into the water and getting out, we realized it wasn’t normal,” Alberto Garcia, who owns a restaurant on the beachfront, told Ideal.

“What surprised us most was that the boat was moving very slowly, as if they weren’t in a hurry or afraid. They went in where there were more people, as if nothing had happened, and stopped five meters from the shore,” he added.

After dropping off the migrants, the boat, with four people on board, simply turned around and left, video shows.