Sawt Falasteen - Crowds cross Gibraltar-Spain frontier as border controls vanish

Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and three former chief ministers removed the final section of the frontier fence shortly before midnight in a symbolic gesture marking the end of border controls between the tiny British territory and Spain.

Soon after, crowds crossed freely between Spain's La Linea de la Concepcion and Gibraltar in both directions. Many people held up their phones to record the moment.

The flow eventually waned but picked up again during the morning rush hour on Wednesday as workers crossed over from the Spanish side.

"I woke up this morning and I didn't have to carry my ID anymore," Maria Jesus Walda, a 34-year-old civil engineer, told AFP as she headed into Gibraltar.

"That is the change in principle. Now we'll see how it evolves."

Gibraltar is home to only about 40,000 people but relies on some 15,500 workers who cross from Spain every day -- nearly half its workforce.

In the past, long queues formed at the border as documents were checked, particularly during periods of strained relations between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar's sovereignty.

The border was closed by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in 1969 after Gibraltar voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to remain British.

The closure, which lasted 13 years, cut off the daily movement of workers from Spain into Gibraltar and separated families.

- 'Drastic change' -

"For decades, the border fence was exactly that, an open wound for the thousands of workers who crossed every day," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday during a visit to La Linea.

He was speaking after workers used a crane to remove the metal gates that had long separated La Linea from Gibraltar.

Leisure visits by people crossing both sides of the border are also affected.

"It's going to be a drastic change, I think for the better. Because we're no longer going to have to rely on whether there's a queue or not to get in or out," Paul Cutthroat, a Gibraltar customs officer, told AFP.

While most of Gibraltar's cross-border workers are Spanish, dozens of nationalities also make the regular journey, including some 1,600 Britons attracted by the lower cost of housing in Spain.

Some residents of Gibraltar expressed concerns about security now that the border fence is gone and regular checks have been eliminated.

"Change is going to happen, but I don't think things will get any better," Elizabeth Pilot, a 34-year-old cook, told AFP.

- 'Digital fortress' -

Picardo said the territory would have many more CCTV cameras, facial-recognition technology linked to international wanted lists and automatic number plate recognition cameras.

"Today the fortress does not have gates. It's a digital fortress, and it will be safer than ever before," he told Gibraltar television station GBC, adding police would boost patrols of the frontier.

The agreement between Britain and the European Union to remove the border controls was signed on Tuesday in Brussels after years of wrangling following the UK's exit from the bloc in 2020.

It essentially brings Gibraltar -- with its traditional British red phone boxes and pubs -- into the EU's Schengen free-travel area.

Travellers arriving from outside the Schengen zone will still have to show their passports to officials at Gibraltar's airport and port.

Gibraltar voted by 96 percent to remain in the EU in Britain's 2016 Brexit referendum.

London and Madrid have disputed control of Gibraltar since the tiny territory -- known affectionately as "The Rock" -- was ceded to Britain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.

T.Samara--SF-PST