Demos in Spain for Ceuta and against Sánchez

Helpers under pressure

Demos in Spain for Ceuta and against Sánchez

“Ceuta doesn’t sell, Ceuta doesn’t surrender”. Protesters in Spain are taking to the streets with slogans like these. It gets restless late in the evening.

In view of the migration crisis in Ceuta Tens of thousands of people took part in nationwide rallies calling for the closure of the North African exclave Spain and against the government’s migration policy Madrid demonstrated. Participants and speakers accused the central government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of an appeasement policy Morocco and lack of aid for Ceuta. Although Morocco has long claimed Ceuta as its own, as has the other Spanish North African exclave Melilla, it is currently not putting much pressure on this issue.

According to a report by “El País”, the National Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse extremist groups that were in the area around the House of Representatives in Madrid late in the evening. Four demonstrators, including two minors, were arrested for unrest and resistance to state authority. Four police officers were also injured.

Spanish opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo from the conservative People’s Party spoke of an “invasion” by migrants behind which Morocco was behind. He accused Sánchez and his government of lying. They claimed that there was no warning about the migration crisis and that Morocco did not incite it. Neither is true.

In Ceuta, thousands of people under a sea of ​​Spanish flags demanded a return to normality and that the exclave remain part of Spain. “Ceuta does not sell, Ceuta does not surrender,” read banners.

According to government figures, at least 72,000 migrants streamed into Ceuta on July 30 and 31. A month later, around 5,000 of them were still in the exclave. Some of them camped on streets and beaches, which is a great burden for the 83,000 locals. There are repeated demonstrations and sometimes violent attacks on migrants and private aid organizations.

For legal reasons, Spain is not allowed to deport migrants collectively, but must decide each asylum application individually. That could take weeks or months. The Spanish central government doesn’t want to bring people to the mainland either because Ceuta is not part of the Schengen area and other Schengen members could then introduce border controls with Spain, like this Italy has already done.

The rallies on the day of the regional holiday in Ceuta were called by the umbrella organization FEMP of Spanish municipalities, which is led by the conservative opposition People’s Party PP. The right-wing populist Vox also took part in the demonstrations. “Ceuta is Spanish and will not be left alone,” said Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida.