Protesters stopped cars on the roads, and drivers honked in support. People applauded the Army and Police and demanded the expulsion of migrants who still remain in the city. They also tried to enter the Ulises hotel in the city centre, where, according to them, the government delegate in Ceuta, Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano, was staying. The protesters chanted: “Delegate, you are not a caballa,” using a local term for Ceuta residents.
However, the first vice‑president and minister of economy, Carlos Cuerpo, was in the hotel meeting with businessmen. Police reinforcements were required to keep adults, children and the elderly from entering the hotel.
Initially several hundred people took to the streets, but the crowd grew to roughly two thousand. The residents organised the action independently. They shouted: “Ceuta is not a CETI,” after learning that the central government might use sports centres and the Military Hospital to house migrants.
Protesters’ demands and incidents
Residents said they did not want to lose access to recreational areas, arguing that the city has already lost much. They also feared that children, whose daily lives are already confined to a few spaces, would be denied safe places such as sports centres. For this reason, protesters criticised the government’s decision and hurled insults at Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The demonstration route mainly followed the central streets, observed by migrants. A wave of Spanish and Ceuta flags pushed the migrants back, and they watched the protest—some laughing, others with serious expressions. As residents passed, they shouted: “Out, out!”
At one point several locals chased two migrants who, contrary to police advice to stay away from the crowd, approached too close to the demonstration. During the chase, two Moroccans overturned chairs on the terrace of a neighbouring establishment, and one of them collided with a waitress on the street.
Because of the fall and the tense situation, the woman lay on the ground for several minutes while police and residents surrounded her and fanned her. They also readjusted her hijab, which covered her hair. “It’s not just the shock of them colliding with her, it’s everything we’ve accumulated,” said a young man watching the scene. “What a pity, brother, what a pity.”
Criticism of the government and a call for unity
Melchor León, a deputy of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party) in Ceuta who has criticised his party’s response to the city’s crisis from the start, also arrived at the scene. “The government acted poorly and late. We do not understand why the local party tries to embellish the data. I have not felt any support from my party; the local PSOE has deceived citizens and tried to create tension. Now they want to turn Ceuta into a CETI, and we say to the executive: no,” he told this publication.
He made the statement after a woman, described as “also a socialist,” approached to hug him and thank him for expressing his position. “This is not about being a socialist, this is about being a resident of this city,” he replied.
Residents continued to walk the streets, thanking the security forces and urging onlookers to join them. Those who could not participate because of work applauded the protesters as they passed. On that day, the residents of Ceuta united on the city’s streets.
Source: ABC.es
