Ceuta Protesters Confront Police as Migrant Standoff Deepens
CEUTA · MIGRATION
Key Facts
—Saturday face-off: Several hundred anti-migrant protesters marched to the Tarajal border area on Saturday and were stopped by a National Police cordon. A sit-in blocked traffic for about 20 minutes before the crowd turned back.
—Second patrol attack: Four Moroccan nationals were arrested in the early hours of Saturday after stones were thrown at a military patrol, leaving a sergeant slightly hurt. It came two days after a similar ambush that led to 12 arrests.
—Far-right fears: Organizers cancelled a planned Saturday night march after learning that far-right groups might join. The next big rally is set for 2 September, Ceuta’s local holiday.
—Thursday’s violence: Protesters carrying Spanish flags broke a police line and burned migrants’ makeshift shelters on Benítez beach, while a human blockade briefly stopped Red Cross vehicles bringing food and water to Trampolín beach.
—The scale: More than 70,000 people crossed from Morocco into the enclave on 30 and 31 July, according to Spanish authorities. Spain’s interior minister later put the total at roughly 72,000 and said about 70,000 had returned to Morocco within days.
—Who is left: Madrid estimates 3,500 to 7,000 migrants remain in Ceuta, the city’s own leaders say at least 10,000, and an El País estimate puts the figure at 5,000 to 8,000. About 1,500 minors have been identified among them.
—The dead: At least 75 people died in the crossing, most drowned or crushed near the Tarajal breakwater, and the toll is expected to rise further.
Ceuta’s migration standoff became a direct confrontation between residents and police on Saturday, when officers stopped several hundred anti-migrant protesters marching toward the Tarajal border crossing. It came two days after protesters burned migrants’ shelters on a city beach, and hours after a second stone attack on a military patrol.
Saturday: a march stopped at the border
Several hundred residents set off from the Royal Walls, the Murallas Reales, on Saturday afternoon, aiming for the El Tarajal area beside the border, RTVE and El País reported. National Police vans blocked the march at the last roundabout before the frontier, and the protesters sat down in the road, cutting traffic for about 20 minutes before turning back toward the city centre.
Chants included “Ceuta no se vende” — “Ceuta is not for sale” — and slogans against the presence of migrants in the city. Five police vans and three military vehicles formed the cordon, with National Police officers and members of the armed forces deployed.
Part of the crowd had intended to continue to Loma Colmenar, the neighbourhood where a temporary reception centre set up by the Migration Ministry is already full. More than 300 migrants were camped around the facility last weekend, according to the EFE news agency, and police prevented that leg of the march.
The mobilization was not supposed to happen at all. Neighbourhood sources had told EFE on Saturday morning that no further protests were planned for the weekend, and organizers had cancelled a night march after learning that far-right groups might try to join, saying they wanted to keep violent elements out.
The afternoon march then assembled anyway, organized at short notice through WhatsApp groups and social media, as most of the protests during this crisis have been.
A second stone attack on soldiers
In the early hours of Saturday, four Moroccan nationals were arrested after a military patrol was pelted with stones, according to EFE. A sergeant suffered slight injuries.
It was the second such incident in three days. In the early hours of Thursday, a group of up to 70 migrants threw stones and other objects at a military patrol vehicle in what a police spokesman in Ceuta described to AFP as an ambush, leaving one soldier with minor injuries and 12 Moroccan nationals under arrest.
Both accounts come from police and official sources and have not been independently corroborated. The motives are unclear, and the incidents do not license conclusions about protesters or migrants as groups.
What happened on Ceuta’s beaches on Thursday
Demonstrators carrying Spanish flags broke through a police line and entered the migrant encampment on Benítez beach on Thursday evening, according to Anadolu Agency’s report from the enclave. Makeshift tents and belongings were destroyed, thrown into the sea and, in some cases, set alight.
Protesters also formed a human blockade to stop Red Cross vehicles carrying food and water from reaching migrants gathered at Trampolín beach. Public broadcaster RTVE said the vehicles initially turned back on police advice, while El País reported that officers later cleared a route and the daily food distribution went ahead under heavy security.
It was the second consecutive night of disorder. Several thousand residents marched on Wednesday, and about 400 of them headed for Trampolín, where police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to keep the crowd away from the migrants’ camp and some protesters threw mattresses and blankets into the sea.
The confrontation had been building for days. Police moved more than 1,200 migrants off Trampolín on 20 August, but hundreds returned within hours and the settlement rebuilt, and clashes flared again at a Red Cross food distribution earlier in the week.
Madrid’s response, and the politics around it
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska appealed for calm in parliament on Friday, telling lawmakers that violence is not the answer to a problem of this complexity. He accused right-wing and far-right parties, which are demanding the return of all the migrants, of inciting hatred and confrontation in Ceuta.
Ceuta’s president Juan Vivas, a conservative, defended peaceful protest to demand a return to normality but rejected violence outright. “No one can or should take the law into their own hands,” he said in an institutional address.
Opposition Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said residents had been left alone with the crisis for a month and that nothing was being done to stop a public-order emergency that worsens daily. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is expected to face questions in Congress over the crisis in the coming week, Spanish media report.
On the practical side, the government has created a single command for Ceuta under Territorial Policy Minister Ángel Víctor Torres and added 400 places to the city’s temporary reception centre, taking it to 1,183, with two further sites prepared to sleep 1,827 adults. It had earlier announced an extra 25 million euros (about US$29 million) for the care of unaccompanied minors in the enclave, at roughly US$1.16 to the euro.
The July crossing that set this up
On 30 and 31 July, more than 70,000 people entered Ceuta from Morocco, swimming around the Tarajal breakwater or crossing on foot along the shoreline. Interior Minister Grande-Marlaska later put the total at roughly 72,000 and said about 70,000 of them had returned to Morocco within days.
It was the largest mass breach in the enclave’s history, many times the size of the May 2021 crisis in which around 8,000 to 10,000 people crossed. At least 75 people died this time, most drowned or crushed near the breakwater, and recovery teams are still finding bodies.
The dispute now is over how many stayed. Spain’s government estimates between 3,500 and 7,000, Ceuta’s right-wing leadership says at least 10,000, and an El País estimate lands between them at 5,000 to 8,000.
Youth Minister Sira Rego said the government has identified about 1,500 minors among those remaining, 700 of them girls, many under the age of 13. Their care is the one part of the crisis both governments agree cannot wait.
Why a small enclave carries outsized weight
Ceuta is a Spanish enclave — a piece of Spanish territory on the North African coast, entirely surrounded by Morocco. It covers roughly 18 square kilometres and holds about 80,000 people, and with Melilla it forms the European Union’s only land border with Africa.
That geography gives Rabat a lever few of its neighbours possess. Whether the Moroccan side polices the crossing closely or loosely is read in Madrid and Brussels as a diplomatic signal, and several European outlets reported that Moroccan forces did little to stop the initial July rush.
Morocco’s government rejects the suggestion that it facilitated the crossing. It blames smuggling networks and disinformation spread on social media, and describes its migration cooperation with Spain as exemplary.
What is verified, and what is not
Saturday’s account rests mainly on reporting by El País and EFE, and no official tally of injuries or arrests from the march itself has been published; the outlets covering the confrontation reported none. The two stone attacks on military patrols come from police and official sources, and the remaining-migrant count still diverges by several thousand depending on which authority is quoted.
Overnight into Sunday, no fresh clashes had been reported in the available coverage. Protesters said they planned instead to greet boats arriving from Andalusia under a civic initiative known as the Armada de la Solidaridad, and the next fixed date is 2 September, when Ceuta marks its local holiday and more than 260 municipalities across Spain have been called to rally in support of the city.
More: Morocco news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently asked questions
What caused the Ceuta migrant protests?
Residents are angry that thousands of migrants remain in the enclave after a mass crossing from Morocco on 30 and 31 July. On Thursday protesters burned makeshift shelters on Benítez beach, and on Saturday several hundred people marched toward the Tarajal border area before police stopped them.
How many people crossed into Ceuta in July?
More than 70,000 people crossed on 30 and 31 July, according to Spanish authorities. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska later put the total at roughly 72,000 and said about 70,000 returned to Morocco within days.
How many migrants remain in Ceuta?
Madrid estimates between 3,500 and 7,000 people, Ceuta’s own leaders say at least 10,000, and an El País estimate puts it at 5,000 to 8,000. About 1,500 minors have been identified among those remaining.
What has the Spanish government done?
It has appealed for non-violence, created a single command for the enclave, added 400 places to Ceuta’s reception centre and announced an extra 25 million euros (about US$29 million) for unaccompanied minors. It says returns to Morocco are a priority but must be assessed case by case.
Connected Coverage
This story runs alongside our pillar on Africa: The New Scramble and our Northern Africa coverage. We reported earlier this month on the deaths during the July crossing and on Morocco’s security alert over calls for a new mass crossing.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief