Assault and set fire to the migrant camp in Ceuta

Madrid / BarcelonaThe worst migratory crisis in recent years, which has claimed at least 140 lives, is pushing Ceuta to its limit. This Thursday, hundreds of people blocked access for a Red Cross truck for more than two hours to the Trampolín beach, where the organization distributes food to the immigrants who have remained there since their arrival on July 30. Afterwards, the protesters, many of them carrying Spanish flags, sticks, and stones, broke the police cordon at Benítez beach, stormed the camp where these people have been sleeping for almost a month, and set fire to two straw parasols that had become improvised shelters for the migrants to protect themselves from the sun.

Before storming the beach, the protesters chanted slogans such as "Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta is defended" or "I am Spanish" and expressed their discontent with the prolongation of a situation that, as they have denounced, is conditioning the daily lives of the residents and generating a growing sense of insecurity. During the rally, criticisms against the Red Cross were also heard and calls not to purchase their coupons, in protest of the attention they give to immigrants settled in different parts of the city, as reported by Efe. The protesters stormed the camp with a large Spanish flag.

This is a trend that has already been seen in previous rallies in the city. "Tension is growing in Ceuta. Demonstrations with very undesirable slogans and a very hostile attitude towards the social entities that are on the ground are being activated, and this worries us a lot. It is uncomfortable to walk down the street and it is important that it be stopped. We are very worried about the climate of tension, which is enormous, and there are those who fuel the tension with irresponsible speeches," explains the general director of the Sur Acoge Federation, José Miguel Morales, in a telephone conversation with ARA. This organization, with a presence in Ceuta, is responsible for the reception and support of a large part of the girls and women on the ground.

Thus, while a part of the Ceuta citizenry continues to offer a humanitarian response to the migrant population, others are radicalizing their discourse and some have even resorted to violence this Thursday with the assault on the camp. Halima, from the NGO Luna Blanca, explains to ARA that until now there had been tension, but these days, after the demonstrations, "a witch hunt against the migrant population" is occurring and the city "is a powder keg".

On the other hand, the participants have argued that their mobilization aims to assert the right of Ceuta residents to regain normality and have questioned that, almost a month after the massive entry, solutions that allow the city to be decongested and a response to be given to the people who remain there continue to be unspecified. The concentration occurs 28 days after the entry of tens of thousands of people from Morocco, a migratory crisis – and at the same time the deadliest tragedy on the southern border since records began – which has generated strong social tension in Ceuta and has led to repeated citizen demands for administrations to adopt measures that allow normality to be restored in the city.

Hate speech

This Thursday, the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, called for “non-violence” and warned that it cannot be that there are Ceuta Red Cross workers who feel “amenaced” for feeding migrant people. The Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, asked for “calm” and “trust” from the increasingly tense citizens of Ceuta. “We will return to normality,” he promised, and he downplayed the insecurity denounced by the opposition. He admitted that there has been an increase in crimes – 4.2% – in Ceuta, but considers that the figures do not align with the situation painted by the right.

In the same way that politicians ask for responsibility from the city's residents, they do so with those most responsible for managing the crisis. Morales, from Sur Acoge, regrets that there has been a lack of agility in the humanitarian response: "We need responsible political discourse, and to say and affirm that everyone must return and will be able to return is not a responsible discourse, it is an anti-democratic discourse. Furthermore, it is impossible by law, it will not be so."

While migrants continue to be on the streets, the social entities that assist them warn that the use of words like “invasion” is what fuels hate speech towards the migrant population. This is an expression that the PP and Vox have used on repeated occasions, finding in this crisis a vein for toughening anti-immigration discourse and, consequently, to pressure for stricter border control. In fact, the organization secretary of the PSOE, Rebeca Torró, has accused the two parties of “the atmosphere of hate” that has settled in Ceuta and has linked Thursday's assault to the visit of former Spanish president José María Aznar.