Mexican Marines Suffer Racist Attack on Polish Beach [Video]

A group of Mexican Marines who belonged to crew ship Cuauhtemoc were attacked on August 18 by a mob of Polish hooligans with bottles, chairs and other objects while resting on a Baltic Sea. The violent attack seemed to be racially motivated. 

The marines were among hundreds of vacationers sunbathing in the province of Gdynia in the north of the European country when they were attacked out of the blue. According to witnesses, the group of hooligans was well over one hundred so tourists and onlookers were afraid to get involved. Apparently one of the attackers was on the beach and ran to alert them of the presence of the Mexican sailors.

"Suddenly a fight broke out and people started screaming but no one wanted to get involved, they were all afraid. The first person to react was a lifeguard, who ran to try to help the already beaten and bloodied Mexicans," a woman called Aneta, told Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

"I saw a group of 20 men kicking a person that was lying face down in the sand trying to cover himself from being hurt any further," Lukasz, another witness, added.

Despite several citizen reports, police were slow to intervene while the aggresion was ongoing. Later, 22 patrol cars and 146 uniformed police officers finally arrived at the scene. In total, three people were arrested because the incident including one of the Mexican marines. Two Polish and three Mexicans were injured during the confrontation and had to be taken to a local hospital. Four of them were quickly released but one of the Mexican marines had to remain hospitalized due to severe cuts.

The attackers are allegedly a large group of hooligans that are part of the fan base for soccer team Ruch Chorzow and were in town to attend the home game against Arka Gdynia, the local team.

The Mayor of Gdynia, Wojciech Szczurek, vowed to punish the attackers under and apply whatever penalties the law mandates. A spokewoman for the Mexican Foreign Relations office said an official complaint was filed with the Polish embassy and that they expected the authorities in that country to act promptly against the attackers.

The Mexican marines were in Poland as part of a tour through several Baltic Sea countries. The sailors are crew members of the training vessel Cuauhtemoc that arrived in Poland on August 17 and is set to sail from the port on August 22.