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UK accuses Spain of breaching protocol with Gibraltar diplomatic bag search UK accuses Spain of breaching protocol with Gibraltar diplomatic bag search
(about 2 hours later)
The British government has accused Spain of a "serious infringement" of diplomatic protocol after Spanish authorities searched a diplomatic bag at the border with Gibraltar. The British government has accused Spain of a serious infringement of diplomatic protocol after Spanish authorities searched a diplomatic bag at the border with Gibraltar.
The Gibraltar Chronicle reported that Spanish Guardia Civil officers searched a sealed diplomatic bag as it was being taking from Gibraltar to Spain last Friday.The Gibraltar Chronicle reported that Spanish Guardia Civil officers searched a sealed diplomatic bag as it was being taking from Gibraltar to Spain last Friday.
The contents of the bag are not known, nor why it was being taken overland across the border. Opening a sealed diplomatic bags is a serious breach of diplomatic protocol. The contents of the bag are not known, nor why it was being taken overland across the border. Opening a sealed diplomatic bag is a serious breach of diplomatic protocol.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) called it a "serious infringement" of the Vienna convention, and called on the Spanish government to investigate the incident and make sure it does not happen again. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) called on the Spanish government to investigate the incident and make sure it did not happen again.
"We take very seriously any reported abuse of the protocol surrounding use of the diplomatic bag," the FCO said. "We take very seriously any reported abuse of the protocol surrounding use of the diplomatic bag," the FCO said. "As far as we are concerned there is no justification for this infringement of the UK's rights under the Vienna convention. Diplomatic bags are inviolable."
"As far as we are concerned there is no justification for this infringement of the UK's rights under the Vienna convention." They added: "Diplomatic bags are inviolable." The incident, the latest in the ongoing dispute between Madrid and London over the British outpost, comes a week after Britain summoned Spain's ambassador over what it called a "provocative incursion" by a Spanish vessel into Gibraltar's territorial waters.
The incident, the latest in the ongoing dispute between Madrid and London over the British outpost, comes one week after Britain summoned Spain's ambassador over what it called a "provocative incursion" by a Spanish vessel into Gibraltar's territorial waters.
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