The migrants of El Trampolín beach: "There are many of us, it is normal that the neighbors are worried"

CeutaEl Trampolín beach is one of the hottest spots in Ceuta's migration crisis, having turned into a village of shacks and survival over the last month. Hundreds of migrants sleep in tents or structures they have invented with reeds, blankets, plastic, and waste they have collected from the street, under the watchful gaze of police and soldiers, who supervise at all hours the more than 800 meters occupied by the largest settlement in the city. Cleaning crews do not stop either: they collect dirt to ensure the sanitation of the camp, even this Wednesday, Ceuta Day, when many people were celebrating and the vast majority of businesses were closed.

"The people of Ceuta have every right to demonstrate; there are many of us, it is normal that they are worried," explains Hamza, when asked about this Wednesday's protests and those that residents of Ceuta have held every day for weeks. Hamza is a Moroccan man who has settled at the end of the El Trampolín beach settlement. He crossed the border with his wife, Chadia, and their son, Riad, who is 6 years old and plays among the shacks while his father speaks to ARA. One of the great concerns of the residents of Ceuta is the city's children, many of whom have not wanted to leave home for fear for a month, and when they do go out, it is always accompanied by their father or mother. "I understand it, I am also a father," assures this man, who says that he decided to leave Morocco precisely to protect his son, since in Casablanca "they had tried to kidnap him" and the family "was very afraid," recalls Hamza.

This family settled on the mountain when they crossed the border, but the soldiers drove them away and asked them to go to the beach, where they have been living for weeks. Their shack is near Amine, a 46-year-old man who comes from Rabat. He also believes that the residents of Ceuta "are right" when they go out to demonstrate. "Very many people have come all at once to their city, to their streets. I would also be afraid," this man assesses. Although they criticize the racism of some of the city's residents, all the migrants with whom ARA has spoken say they understand the unease they have caused for the citizens of Ceuta, who are increasingly fed up with this situation.

Desire to claim rights

These weeks it is common to see people with the flag of Spain tied around their necks or flying it out of car windows. In bars and restaurants, there is talk of nothing else, especially this Wednesday, when the celebration of Ceuta Day added fuel to the fire. The residents want to make their voices heard, to make it clear that they are tired and that they need solutions. At El Trampolín beach, some of the shacks in the camp also have the national flag hoisted, and many of them are wearing shirts from Barça, Madrid, and other clubs of the Spanish league.

A few meters from the settlement, a municipal cleaning worker sweeps the promenade. He is Muslim and explains that his son, who wants to be a Civil Guard, was attacked by a group of residents because they mistook him for one of the migrants who entered the city illegally at the end of July. He has gone out to demonstrate anyway, with him and his wife, to demand the expulsion of all migrants and to put an end, once and for all, to the worst migration crisis in recent years.