Thousands of residents of Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the government’s handling of a migration crisis that followed a deadly border surge in July.
The demonstrations coincided with Ceuta Day, with protesters waving Spanish flags, blowing whistles and chanting, “Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta must be defended.”
The protests came nearly five weeks after at least 72,000 people crossed from Morocco into the enclave. More than 10,000 migrants, including unaccompanied minors, are still staying in makeshift camps or scattered across streets and beaches, according to Ceuta authorities.
The continued presence of migrants has fuelled near-daily protests, with residents calling on the government to return those without the right to remain to their countries of origin or relocate them to other parts of Spain.
“The response has been inadequate, late and, to top it all, has involved a complete dereliction of duty,” said David Hernandez, a 45-year-old teacher.
Recent tensions have included sporadic attacks on a makeshift migrant camp at El Trampolin beach, while Moroccan nationals have been arrested after stones and bottles were thrown at army patrols.
Similar demonstrations took place in cities including Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao.
The protests were backed by the FEMP federation of municipalities, which is dominated by Spain’s opposition conservative People’s Party (PP).
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s left-wing government has rejected the initiative, accusing the opposition of using the crisis for political gain.
“This is not about defending Ceuta and the Ceutans, it is about attacking the government,” Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres told Spanish broadcaster RNE.
Madrid has increased capacity at temporary accommodation centres to more than 3,400 places, up from around 500, and deployed more than 1,600 police officers.
But local officials and charities say the measures are still not enough to deal with the situation.
“The central government needs to provide funds and the local government needs to provide space,” said Juan Miguel Morales, director of the Sur Acoge charity. “The response has lacked agility: that much is clear.”
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