Spain: Anti-migrant protests in Ceuta degenerate into clashes

Protests against security conditions in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa, degenerated into clashes between locals and police on Thursday, a month after the massive influx of migrants from Morocco.

Police charged protesters on a beach after a group entered the area where migrants sleep. Some of their belongings were set on fire, according to footage broadcast by Spanish public television.

Earlier in the day, dozens of protesters staged a sit-in to prevent Red Cross vehicles from accessing the beach to distribute food to the hundreds of migrants staying in the area.

The protesters, waving Spanish flags, chanted "They must go" and "Red Cross out," before being dispersed by the police.

The Spanish government and local authorities in Ceuta called for calm on Thursday, after several incidents that occurred nearly a month after the massive influx of more than 70,000 migrants into this small Spanish territory in North Africa.

The protesters denounce security and hygiene problems and accuse the government of socialist Pedro Sánchez of abandoning them to their fate.

- "No response" -

Even though just a few hours after this sudden influx, most of the migrants returned to Morocco, several thousand remained in the city - between 3,500 and 7,000 according to the government and at least 10,000 according to the authorities of Ceuta, which has 80,000 inhabitants in normal times.

Since then, these migrants have struggled to access food, water, shelter or sanitation facilities, sleeping in makeshift shelters, on beaches and wandering the streets.

A demonstration bringing together thousands of Ceutians on Wednesday evening had already ended in unrest when police launched tear gas to prevent them from attacking migrants camping on a beach, according to the Spanish press.

And at dawn on Thursday, a military vehicle with four soldiers on board "fell into an ambush" set by some 70 migrants, who threw stones and other objects at them, forcing the soldiers to flee and ask for help from the police, a spokesman for the national police told AFP.

Twelve Moroccans were arrested after these incidents, during which a soldier was slightly injured.

"Tension in the city of Ceuta is very high" because "there is no response" from the government and "we feel abandoned," Kissy Chandiramani, finance advisor for the autonomous city, led by the People's Party (right-wing, in opposition at the national level), told Cadena Ser radio on Thursday.

Speaking before Parliament in Madrid, Justice Minister Félix Bolaños for his part addressed a "message of calm, of confidence in the State (...) to the citizens of Ceuta".

- "Crisis of public order" -

Faced with criticism from part of the population of Ceuta and its authorities, but also from the right-wing and far-right opposition, the government of Pedro Sánchez has taken measures in recent days to accelerate the return of migrants to Morocco.

To speed up the process, he established a "single command" for Ceuta, entrusted to the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, who called on the city's inhabitants to "understand" them, reminding them that the authorities had to identify each migrant to determine whether they were entitled to asylum or could be returned.

The Interior Ministry announced on Thursday that it was sending additional personnel to identify migrants.

The thousands of unaccompanied minors in the city must receive special protection, and the government approved on Thursday the transfer of an additional 25 million euros to accommodate them.

"The return of boys and girls (...) must be done in compliance with the guarantee of human rights (...) and in accordance with a very demanding legal procedure," recalled the Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego.

The situation in Ceuta is at the heart of the political debate between the left-wing government and its opponents, as the next Spanish legislative elections approach, expected in the spring.

"The people of Ceut have been bearing alone for a month what is not their responsibility. Nothing has been done to prevent the invasion (...) and nothing is being done to stop the public order crisis which is worsening every day," Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the People's Party, again criticized on X on Thursday.