‘Copycat’ supermarket raid

Wednesday, 15 August 2012 13:00

Written by Editor

The dust had barely settled after last week’s spectacular supermarket raids by members of the Andalusian Union of workers (SAT) for food for the poor when the first copycat raid was foiled by police in Torreblanca, one of the districts of Seville. A gang of around 21 adults and minors had been holding a street party when they ran out of booze around 5 am on Saturday. They decided to replenish their supply by breaking into a Coviran supermarket but a tip-off to the police spoiled their plan.

The police managed to catch three of them – two women and an underage boy – who demanded to know why the SAT workers could get away with stealing carts full of food “and we can’t help ourselves, we’re poor too”.

Torreblanca has one of the highest unemployment rates in Seville.  The incident has done nothing to allay fears that the SAT workers’ raids could set off a rash of looting in areas across the region where there is high unemployment.