Police lash out at student in Santa Theresa
A student from Oxford University was beaten to the ground without warning by Spanish police whilst on a kite-surfing expedition in Santa Theresa. On the evening of the 5th of April, the students, dressed as oompa loompas and under the influence of alcohol, went out in Santa Theresa to publicise the kite-surfing team with large stickers.
The stickers, which portrayed the logo and acronym of the Kite Surfing Association, had been given to the students by the expedition organisers for publicity purposes. The students plastered the stickers on walls and bins in the city centre. Later in the evening, four students began slapping stickers on the backs of two local policemen who were patrolling the streets. Jeremy Heath, a third-year Medicine student from Teddy Hall, said, “At first we just put the stickers on random things.
We were really drunk, though, and four students decided to get the policemen.” The policemen reacted by immediately handcuffing several students at the scene. Heath said, “At first the police attempted to form a dialogue, questioning us and attempting to find out who was responsible. No one spoke fluent Spanish though, and we were all really drunk.” Eventually one student, Nick Shipman, a second-year physics students at St. John’s, confessed to having attacked the officers with the stickers. At this point the officers became violent, beating Shipman to the ground with a truncheon. Shipman said, “They just lost their temper and started beating be up. I fell down - partly because I was so shocked. “It was pretty painful, I was badly bruised the next day.” Heath said, “It was a shock to see someone being beaten like that. We couldn’t communicate with them, so no one knew what was going on.
Laurent Guillemain, a third-year Economics and Management student at Wadham, made a recording of the events on his mobile phone. The police seized this evidence immediately and ordered Laurent to delete it. A spokesperson for Oxford University said, “The University advises students to take care when enjoying themselves and to remember that foreign countries often have different mores and customs.
The kite-surfing trip to Santa Theresa was organised by the Oxford Kitesurf Club, and involved 80 students altogether, 20 of whom were from Oxford University itself. The society, soon to represent the University Kite Surfing team, caters for beginners and advanced surfers. Kite Surfing is an extreme sport, and three of the instructors were knocked unconscious whilst out practising on the expedition.
The Kite-surfers hit the town of Santa Theresa dressed as oompa loompas on the night of the beating
19th Apr 2007