The president of Ceuta, Juan Vivas, estimated this Saturday that between 8,000 and 11,000 people currently remain in the city due to the massive entry on July 30 and has demanded that the central government expedite their return to Morocco, considering it the “only way out” to resolve an “absolutely unsustainable” situation.

The border controls that have been carried out since this Saturday, after the Government decided to suspend Schengen with Italy due to the diplomatic crisis following the massive entry of immigrants in Ceuta, are carried out at the airplane door – at the exit of the access walkway to the aircraft, in the so-called finger – without causing a diversion of the passenger flow to an external border control area, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The National Police officers are carrying out these controls randomly, not systematically, on passengers who are nationals of third countries, in order to verify that they have a valid passport and, if applicable, a visa or residence card.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, held a videoconference yesterday with four of his ministers regarding the situation in Ceuta from his summer break at the La Mareta estate in Lanzarote, and from La Moncloa a video and a photograph of the moment were sent to the media. The fact is that the still image of the episode distributed by the EFE agency has raised some controversy because the head of the Executive’s legs are not visible below the desk in his office while he speaks addressing the ministers who appear on a screen.

La Policía Nacional has carried out this Saturday morning the first random checks on flights coming from Italy at the airports of Barcelona and Madrid. However, the situation at El Prat was absolutely normal on this second Saturday of August, since of the various flights arriving from the transalpine country in the morning, only one coming from Rome and another from Milan that landed at noon had an additional check by the agents of the National Police Corps (CNP).

The “total confrontation,” “the crisis,” or “the wall” between Italy and Spain over the reciprocal suspension of the Schengen free movement treaty following the migration crisis in Ceuta headlines the Italian press this Saturday.