A month after at least 72,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta — most of them swimming around a border fence; the mayor said at least 100 died — several thousand remain in the Spanish city, many sleeping on beaches, and on Thursday the protests turned into fire. The BBC reported that dozens of residents blocked Red Cross workers from handing out food and water, then set migrant camps alight on Trampolín beach and clashed with police. That came hours after 12 migrants were arrested for throwing stones at a military vehicle, breaking windows and injuring four soldiers. There were reports of vigilante groups chasing people through the streets. Journalists said they were threatened.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told a congressional committee that violence is not the answer and accused the People’s Party and Vox of feeding stigmatisation “at a moment when what we need is responsibility and statesmanship.” Ceuta’s conservative mayor, Juan Jesús Vivas, said the city’s “right to normality” and “the dignity of Spain” were at stake. On Friday every party in the local assembly signed a declaration condemning violence. Madrid this week took crisis management away from the local authority. Defence Minister Margarita Robles apologised to residents who “may have felt, or who even still feel, abandoned or not sufficiently cared.”
Most of the July arrivals went back to Morocco within hours. The ones still there are the argument. The government wants to move people into public buildings to process asylum and returns; locals, and Vivas, do not want them nearer residential streets. Morocco has restated a “historical and geographical” claim to Ceuta and Melilla. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said he would not discuss Spain’s territorial integrity “with Morocco or with anyone else.” The camps on the beach were still the story on Thursday night.
Sources: BBC; AFP via The Local.
