The new camp for immigrants set up by the Government on two plots in the port of Ceuta displayed the sign “full” – in Spanish, English, and Arabic, to leave no doubt – at noon yesterday after its just over 1,700 places were occupied in a few hours. Many did not make it, and after 50 days living rough, their helplessness was joined by frustration and anger at having lost another opportunity.
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The Government estimates that, after this relocation, more than 3,000 immigrants remain on the street. Many of them, unable to access the port facility yesterday, returned to take refuge on the beaches of Benítez and El Trampolín, from where they had left before dawn, or disappeared into the outskirts of the autonomous city.
The operation began before seven in the morning, when a crowd was already waiting since dawn on the beach of Benítez or moved there from the more remote El Trampolín, as the public order forces began organizing the transfer to the port facilities. In a short time, the situation got out of control, with scenes of tension, stampedes of immigrants trying not to lose their place, police firing warning shots into the air, charges, and injuries.
The initial chaos was brought under control, security forces managed to control the situation, and the transfer and orderly entry of immigrants into the port camp was completed without further incidents. Until its capacity was exhausted, and those who did not make it dispersed until the next opportunity.
The Government attributed the “call effect” that caused many immigrants to crowd to the legal dispute resolved in the National Court – following a complaint by the Unified Police Union (SUP). “They knew the relocation was imminent,” they explain. And the operation could not be carried out with the intended discretion, due, in their view, to the “publicity” given to the transfer by the legal dispute in the Court, which on Thursday authorized the opening of the camp.
The Government celebrates the “success” of the operation “without incidents,” despite harsh criticism from the right and left
At La Moncloa, they highlight that it was the “most complex operation ever carried out in Spain,” involving the relocation of more than 1,700 immigrants in a few hours. And despite the initial tension, they emphasize the “civic behavior, without violence or disturbances” with which the operation was conducted.
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Images of stampedes and high tension immediately worsened the political confrontation. Alberto Núñez Feijóo denounced the “lack of control” of a situation he blamed on Pedro Sánchez. “He is not capable of maintaining public order in a Spanish city, it couldn’t be done worse,” he lamented, and demanded the expulsion of the immigrants.
At La Moncloa, his attitude was called “despicable and irresponsible.” “Feijóo is feeding Vox’s xenophobic and racist discourse, and is only fattening Vox,” warned Minister Óscar López. “This is not opposition, it is demolition,” he denounced.
Santiago Abascal, who also demands the expulsion of all immigrants, invited them to keep “running” until they return to Morocco. But Sumar, PSOE’s partner in government, also raised its voice: “The police charge against groups of migrants for the terrible crime of walking slowly,” it criticized.
Despite pressure from the right and left, the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, celebrated that the operation to transfer immigrants to the temporary reception facilities in the port ended “successfully and without significant incidents.” “We continue moving forward to achieve normality in Ceuta,” he trusted.
The transfer to the port could not be done with the intended discretion: “They knew the relocation was imminent”
Of the between 9,000 and 10,000 immigrants, “at most,” who remained in Ceuta after the July stampedes, the Government estimates that 6,000 are already under roof after this relocation. But they acknowledge that more than 3,000 remain on the street.
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