Tue, Aug 03, 2004 page6

• 300 years on, Spain rails over its `thorns in the feet'

  • DPA
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  When an Anglo-Dutch fleet commanded by Admiral George Rooke opened fire on Aug. 4, 1704, the fate of Gibraltar was sealed.

  Spanish military governor Diego de Salinas surrendered after only six hours of battle, which claimed 120 lives.

  Nine years later, the Treaty of Utrecht confirmed the handover of the strategically important rocky outcrop of 6.5km2 to Britain, which had taken advantage of the War of Spanish Succession to conquer it.

  King Felipe V likened the loss of Gibraltar to "thorns in the feet," and so it has been for Spain ever since.

  Three centuries after Admiral Rooke led his ships to Gibraltar, the enclave on Spain's southernmost tip remains resolutely British, resisting Madrid's constant attempts to reclaim it.

  Gibraltar's 30,000 residents of British, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Maltese and other origins relish signs of their British identity, ranging from British currency and Union Jack flags to fish and chip shops, pubs and red telephone booths.

  Yet palm trees shade streets with English names bathing in Mediterranean sunshine, Spanish food and football are popular, and even bobbies wearing British-style helmets speak Spanish as well as English.

  Comprising a 425m-high rock and some surrounding terrain in a strategic spot between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the enclave dubbed "the Rock" is known as a tax-free shopping paradise.

  Spain accuses it of harboring money-launderers, smugglers and other crooks.

  Such charges form part of the constant pressure Madrid puts on Gibraltar, such as barring ships and aeroplanes from entering Spain or restricting telephone lines.

  Spanish border checks force cars to stop on the frontier between Gibraltar and the surrounding Spanish region of Andalusia, some of whose residents come daily to work in the enclave and where many Gibraltarians own holiday homes.

  Spanish dictator Francisco Franco even closed the border in 1969, and it was not reopened until 16 years later by the Socialist government.

  Yet the more Spain has bullied Gibraltar, the more it has resented its big neighbor.

  In a 2002 referendum, 99 per cent of Gibraltar residents voted in favour of remaining British.

  The referendum staged "illegally" by Gibraltar torpedoed a Spanish-British plan for joint sovereignty over the enclave, whose military significance has declined and which hampers business at the EU by causing friction between Madrid and London.

  Gibraltar would like to have more autonomy from Britain, but without losing its ties with the mother country, Chief Minister Peter Caruana says.

  Spain regards "Europe's last colony" as an anachronism, but Britain says it cannot hand it over against the will of its residents.

  In a typical development, Spain has threatened reprisals over the upcoming visit of British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon to mark the 300th anniversary of British rule over Gibraltar.

  Spain was also annoyed by the recent visit of Princess Anne, and protested to Britain over the stopover of nuclear submarine HMS Tireless in the enclave despite protests from environmentalists.

  But, the story goes, Gibraltar will remain British as long as a colony of Barbary apes lives on a slope of its rock, where tourists come to feed them.

  And so far, the apes are doing just fine.

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