Ceuta Locals Burn Migrant Camps, Clash With Police After 72,000 Crossed From Morocco
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Aug 28
Ceuta Locals Burn Migrant Camps, Clash With Police After 72,000 Crossed From Morocco
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Aug 28
Summary
Several dozen Ceuta residents blocked Red Cross workers from handing out food and water on Thursday, then torched beach camps at Trampolín and fought with police as anti-migrant unrest intensified.
Tensions spiked hours after police arrested 12 migrants accused of stoning a military vehicle, injuring four soldiers, while vigilante groups were reported chasing migrants through the streets.
At least 72,000 migrants entered the Spanish exclave from Morocco on July 30-31, with most quickly returned but several thousand—many of them children—still sleeping on beaches and streets.
Madrid has since taken direct control of the response, blaming inflammatory rhetoric from the PP and Vox, while all parties in Ceuta's local assembly signed a declaration condemning the violence.
The crisis is also feeding a wider dispute over Spain's plan to house migrants in public buildings and over Morocco's role, as questions about Ceuta's sovereignty return to the fore.