Protests over security in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta escalated into clashes between locals and police on Thursday, a month after a mass influx of migrants from Morocco.
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Police charged protesters at a beach after a group of demonstrators moved into the area where migrants have been sleeping, with some belongings set on fire during the disturbances, images broadcast on Spanish public television showed.
Earlier on Thursday, dozens of protesters staged a sit-in to temporarily prevent Red Cross vehicles from reaching the beach to distribute food to hundreds of migrants staying in the area.
Demonstrators, many waving Spanish flags, chanted “They should leave” and “Out with the Red Cross” before they were dispersed by police.
The incidents come after police fired tear gas to prevent confrontations between protesters and migrants camping on the beach late on Wednesday.
Residents of Ceuta, which is just 18 square kilometres, have held regular demonstrations over what they say are security and hygiene problems linked to the influx.
Tensions have risen after a military vehicle carrying four soldiers was “ambushed” in the early hours of Thursday by about 70 migrants, who attacked it with stones and other objects, a police spokesperson in Ceuta told the AFP news agency.
The soldiers fled and called for police assistance. Police detained 12 migrants, all Moroccan, the spokesperson said.
One soldier suffered minor injuries after being struck by a stone. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
“The tension in the city of Ceuta is very high” because there is “no response” from the government and “we feel abandoned,” Kissy Chandiramani, the autonomous city’s finance councillor, told news radio SER.
But she also appealed for calm, saying people had the right to protest but warning that growing hostility would not resolve the crisis.
Working ‘without rest’
More than 70,000 migrants entered Ceuta in late July, swimming or crossing on foot from neighbouring Morocco in a chaotic influx that left scores dead and fuelled fresh tensions within the European Union over migration.
Although the vast majority returned to Morocco within hours, thousands remain in the territory, many living rough on the streets.
Spain’s left-wing government puts the figure at between 3,500 and 7,000, while Ceuta’s right-wing leaders say it is at least 10,000.
Justice Minister Felix Bolanos appealed for calm, telling lawmakers in Madrid that authorities were working “without rest” to restore normality to the territory.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has faced mounting criticism from Ceuta’s authorities and residents, who say Madrid reacted too slowly to the mass arrival.
The government has in recent days moved to expand shelter for migrants and speed up efforts to determine who can be returned to Morocco.
‘Worsening every day’
The Interior Ministry said on Thursday it would send additional personnel to help identify migrants, while the government approved €25 million in additional funding to help care for unaccompanied minors, who are entitled to special legal protections.
To speed up the response, Spain’s Cabinet approved the creation of a “single command” for Ceuta on Tuesday, to be led by Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres.
The crisis has also intensified Spain’s political divisions ahead of a general election expected next year, with conservative and far-right opposition parties calling for the return of all migrants.
But the government has warned that each individual must be identified to determine whether they are entitled to asylum or subject to deportation, while thousands of minors require special protection.
Sánchez has also come under fire for going ahead with his summer vacation while the crisis festered and convening his national security council to discuss the situation only after he returned earlier this week.
“People in Ceuta have been putting up with this alone for a month,” the head of the main opposition Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, wrote on X on Thursday.
“Nothing was done to prevent the invasion…and nothing is being done to stop the public-order crisis that is worsening every day,” he added.