Ceuta is a pressure cooker. The atmosphere that permeated this Wednesday’s massive mobilization against the crisis management suggests it could explode. Thousands of Ceutans, with the Spanish flag as a common denominator, gathered late in the afternoon in front of the Government Delegation – where the sole commander, Minister Ángel Víctor Torres, was located – to clamor for their city, “which is not for sale, but defended.” Weariness is giving way to anger. Concern to exasperation. “Invaders [referring to the immigrants who entered in an avalanche], expulsion,” chanted the majority. “Go get them,” shouted the minority, while running after some North Africans who are still wandering the streets.

David Sánchez, brother of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, was sentenced yesterday by the Badajoz Court to nine years of disqualification from holding public office and from exercising the right to passive suffrage as the author of a crime of administrative misconduct for having occupied the position of coordinator of the conservatories of the Badajoz Provincial Council which, according to the sentence, was created “to his measure”.

“It is very serious,” warn officials at Moncloa in response to the ruling by the Provincial Court of Badajoz that this Tuesday sentenced David Sánchez, the brother of the Prime Minister, to nine years of disqualification for a crime of administrative misconduct. And a second “very dangerous precedent for our democracy,” in their view, following the Supreme Court ruling that also disqualified the former Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, from holding office. “It is outrageous to convict an innocent person without evidence,” they warn in the Executive.

The Partido Popular multiplied itself yesterday on all fronts to elevate the migration debate in Ceuta to the level of a state crisis. From the coast of Lugo to the border perimeter of the autonomous city, the opposition leadership coordinated its discourse to accuse Pedro Sánchez’s government of violating territorial integrity and to demand a structural shift that returns direct control of its borders to the Spanish institutions, moving the discussion from mere emergency management to a comprehensive questioning of the diplomatic strategy in North Africa.

The Beni Enzar border, the only operational one between Spain and Morocco in Melilla, remains closed, according to the Government delegation in the autonomous city, which has asked the public not to go to the border perimeter in order not to hinder the work of the Security Forces and Corps.