Spanish warship ‘sails through Gibraltar's territorial waters playing Spain national anthem’

Video purports to show breach of territorial waters

(Getty)

Video footage has emerged of a Spanish warship sailing past Gibraltar apparently playing the Spanish national anthem over loudspeakers in provocation.

Publicly available tracking data shows that the Infanta Elena, a Corvette-class vessel armed with automatic cannons and torpedoes, sailed past the British territory on Tuesday.

The Independent has so far been unable to verify whether the footage which shows the anthem being played is genuine, or whether the music was added afterwards.

The supposed drive-by anthem rendition comes after weeks of heightened tensions between the UK and Spain over the British Overseas Territory and its status after Brexit.

Fisherman Nicholas Karnani, who uploaded the video to Twitter after he was sent it by a colleague, described the incident as an “invasion of British Gibraltar territorial waters”.

He urged the UK government to “take action in decent of its people”. The Foreign Office has not yet commented on the incident.

Spain claims the territory and Spanish actions in its territorial waters are fairly common, sometimes eliciting a response from the Royal Navy.

In April a Royal Navy vessel fired a warning flare in an encounter where a Spanish Guardia Civil vessel was judged to be too close to UK nuclear submarine HMS Talent.

The Spanish government claims the Iberian territory should be returned to Spain, a policy adopted during the Franco era. Polls and referenda results however show Gibraltans overwhelmingly wants to remain part of the UK.

Last month, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said Gibraltar would "always be under the Union flag”.