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Ceuta violence after influx
Tensions in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta escalated into clashes between locals and police on Thursday, a month after a mass influx of migrants from Morocco, after a military vehicle carrying four soldiers was “ambushed” in the early hours of Thursday by about 70 migrants who attacked it with stones and other objects.
“a military vehicle carrying four soldiers was "ambushed"”
Police charged protesters at a beach after a group of demonstrators moved into the area where migrants have been sleeping, with some belongings set on fire during the disturbances, and police fired tear gas to prevent confrontations between protesters and migrants camping on the beach late on Wednesday.
Emergency officials said the incidents came as residents of Ceuta, which is just 18 square kilometres, held regular demonstrations over what they say are security and hygiene problems linked to the influx.
The police spokesperson in Ceuta said the soldiers fled and called for police assistance, and police detained 12 migrants, all Moroccan, while one soldier suffered minor injuries after being struck by a stone.
Kissy Chandiramani, the autonomous city’s finance councillor, told news radio SER that “The tension in the city of Ceuta is very high” because there is “no response” from the government and “we feel abandoned,” while also appealing for calm.
Parliament hearings and funding
In Spain’s Congress of Deputies, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska and Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares and Elma Saiz appeared as the government sought European support for triage of migrants remaining in Ceuta, with Spain requesting the European Commission’s support of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and Europol.
Elma Saiz told lawmakers that “There is no contradiction between security and humanity,” and she defended the government’s actions as an “extraordinary response” while also saying the Government requested help from the EU “from the first moment.”
The government increased emergency aid for Ceuta’s humanitarian response to 44.5 million euros, and the request for EU support was framed as a way to classify and organize care for foreigners who remain irregularly in Ceuta.
RTVE.es also reported that the Government increased to 44.51 million euros, funded by the European Union, the credit to reinforce humanitarian aid in Ceuta.
In the same period, ABC reported that the Ceuta Criminal Court ordered the expulsion of eleven Moroccan citizens from Spain, detained for their involvement in the attack suffered this Thursday by a patrol of the Regulars Group in the Benzú area, after they accepted a two-year prison sentence for an offense against authorities.
Stakes: coexistence and minors
The crisis in Ceuta has continued to affect daily life and schooling, with Antena 3 Noticias reporting that some parents considered not sending their children to class on September 8, the date when the school year begins, because they said they have “no security.”
“"it’s untenable, it does not guarantee safety, buses are full of immigrants"”
Ceuta resident Miriam Fedal said, “it’s untenable, it does not guarantee safety, buses are full of immigrants,” while professor Helena Arias warned that “the image that the students are going to have will be entering a high school between two armed men.”
Education confirmed the start of classes on September 8 as planned, and the Secretary of State for Education, Abelardo de la Rosa, said there would be “uniformed presence” in the vicinity of the centers, as well as on school routes, at bus stops, in school entry and exit times, and also during recess and in the afternoons.
Politically, the crisis has intensified Spain’s divisions ahead of a general election expected next year, with conservative and far-right opposition parties calling for the return of all migrants, while the government warned that each individual must be identified to determine whether they are entitled to asylum or subject to deportation.
Euronews reported that Spain’s left-wing government puts the figure at between 3,500 and 7,000, while Ceuta’s right-wing leaders say it is at least 10,000, and it said the government approved €25 million in additional funding to help care for unaccompanied minors.