Residents and port workers protested a new 1,000-person shelter Tuesday as reports said Spain is preparing accommodation capacity for as many as 10,000 migrants in Ceuta following July’s mass border crossing.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Residents and port workers in Spain’s North African exclave of Ceuta formed a human chain Tuesday evening as opposition grew to government plans for additional migrant accommodation following the mass arrival of tens of thousands of people from Morocco in late July.
The demonstration focused on a new shelter near the western pier of the Port of Ceuta that Spanish authorities are preparing to accommodate about 1,000 migrants. The facility is expected primarily to house people currently staying in makeshift camps at Benítez and Trampolín beaches.
According to El Faro de Ceuta, the transfer appeared “imminent,” with tents at the new location described as “practically prepared.”
Residents and workers gathered peacefully near the port and repeated slogans heard during other demonstrations since the July border crisis, including, “Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta is defended,” and “Ceuta, united, will never be defeated.”
Footage from the protest showed participants forming the human chain as concerns centered on security, the shelter’s proximity to port infrastructure and the broader effect of the influx on the city.
Miguel Ángel Oncina, identified by El Faro de Ceuta as one of the demonstrators, said frustration among residents was continuing to increase.
“We’re already fed up — and getting more and more fed up — with what’s happening in Ceuta,” Oncina said before criticizing the “entire government with all its little cronies” over its handling of conditions in the city.
Oncina argued that placing the shelter at the port violates existing regulations and presents a security concern because of its proximity to three fuel storage facilities, a school about 50 meters away and a vessel used for transportation.
He said residents intended to continue demonstrating “every time we can” and called the situation “not normal.”
“We are citizens of Ceuta, we’ve lived here our whole lives. We are hardworking people, we pay our taxes, we’ve done our military service; we have children; we have grandchildren; we are autonomous, and what we want is the freedom we used to have — which we’re losing, losing it completely,” Oncina told El Faro de Ceuta.
“We can’t walk the streets why? Easy, because you might run into a thief, you might run into a rapist,” he continued. “They’re mistreating our elders, our women, our children, our grandchildren, and as you can understand, that shouldn’t be allowed in a country that’s supposed to be democratic.”
An unidentified woman who said she works in the area also expressed concern about personal safety and the impact of placing the shelter near her workplace.
“This is a danger to all of us because we have to go around with pepper spray in hand,” she said. “We are afraid, and cannot take it anymore.”
Video of the demonstration documented the protest near the Muelle de Poniente as authorities continued preparing the facility.
The port shelter is one part of a much larger accommodation effort reportedly being developed by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government.
Reporting citing the Spanish newspaper ABC said the central government is preparing to increase accommodation capacity in Ceuta to approximately 10,000 migrants within the next month.
That reported capacity would be separate from about 2,000 spaces designated for unaccompanied minors. Many minors remained in Ceuta after relatives returned to Morocco following the border crossing, with their age giving them different protections under Spanish and European immigration and asylum procedures.
The reported accommodation plans have raised questions about government estimates of how many migrants remain in Ceuta.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said last month that about 5,000 migrants remained following the July influx. Plans to establish considerably more accommodation have prompted critics to question whether that estimate reflects the number of people currently requiring housing.
The crisis began when as many as 70,000 migrants were reported to have crossed or attempted to cross into the Spanish territory from Morocco in late July. Ceuta has a permanent population of approximately 87,000.
Many people have since left or been returned, but thousands remain while asylum applications and other immigration cases are processed.
Government planning reportedly seeks accommodation located “sufficiently far” from Ceuta’s central districts as officials attempt to reduce the disruption caused by migrants sleeping in public areas and makeshift encampments.
Trampolín Beach has been among the locations where migrants have erected improvised shelters made from reeds, discarded materials and other available items.
The large number of asylum claims means the effects of the July crossing are expected to continue for months. Under European asylum rules, claims must be reviewed before applicants who qualify for protection can receive a final decision.
Spanish migration officials reportedly anticipate that approximately 6,000 migrants could still be in Ceuta at the beginning of next year.
Applicants awaiting decisions can receive accommodation, food and medical services during processing, including people whose claims may ultimately be rejected. The length of that process has increased pressure on authorities attempting to provide temporary housing and services.
Ceuta’s health system has become another source of conflict.
Doctors and nurses represented by the local Cemsatse union have called for a strike beginning Sept. 24, saying medical services are under increasing pressure and criticizing what they describe as an inadequate response from Spain’s Health Ministry.
Spanish Health Minister Mónica García has rejected claims that the influx has pushed Ceuta’s health infrastructure to collapse.
García previously described as “xenophobic” assertions linking migrants generally with the introduction of disease. Confirmed cases of tuberculosis and other infectious illnesses have nevertheless been reported among people who arrived during the influx.
The dispute over Ceuta has also taken on a diplomatic dimension involving neighboring Morocco.
Former Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Arancha González Laya this week characterized the border crisis as a “hybrid attack” by Rabat and said Morocco was pursuing “neo-imperialist” objectives connected to its longstanding claims involving Ceuta.
Those assertions followed a Spanish National Police report alleging that Moroccan state personnel, including uniformed and plainclothes agents, were observed directing migrants toward border crossings during the July 30 surge.
Morocco has denied involvement in deliberately facilitating the crossing.
The Spanish government is now attempting to move migrants from beaches and makeshift camps into organized facilities while processing thousands of asylum and immigration cases.
For residents living and working near the newest port facility, however, Tuesday’s human chain demonstrated that government efforts to relocate migrants within Ceuta are generating a new phase of local opposition even as authorities try to move the city away from the emergency conditions that followed July’s border crossing.
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