Chaos in Ceuta: thousands of immigrants cross the border from Morocco and Spain deploys the army

Marina Artusa

05/18/2021 7:56 AM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 05/18/2021 7:56 AM

From very early, on the sand of the Tarajal beach of the autonomous city of Ceuta, four tanks of the Spanish Army point towards the border with Morocco, from where the entry

of immigrants

into the

cataract

seems not to stop.

Some 6,000 people crossed the 500 meters of sea that separate the two countries on Monday before the

inertia

of the Moroccan authorities who are doing nothing to prevent it.

Chaos reigns: stoned, shouts and desperate attempts to cross the jetty and the fence that separate the border between Spain and Morocco while members of the Spanish Army return to Moroccan territory those who manage to cross and assist those who manage to reach the coast.

It is the largest migratory wave produced in one day by sea and Ceuta, the 18.5 square kilometer city where some 85 thousand people live, is overflowing.

Since Sunday, it has suffered an avalanche of families, men, women and unaccompanied minors who, due to the inaction of the Moroccan authorities, began to cross the border and wander through its streets.

"It is an invasion," said the president of the Spanish autonomous city, Juan Jesús Vivas.

“It is not an immigration issue.

This is much more important - he added.

We are not even in a position to calculate today how many people are in Ceuta. "

A Spanish soldier before a group of Moroccans seeking to reach the coast.

Photo: Reuters

“We are working to reverse this extraordinary situation.

1,500 people who entered illegally have already been returned, out of the 6,000 who did so yesterday (Monday), ”said Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who planned to travel to Ceuta after the cabinet meeting.

Sánchez suspends activities

At the head of that Council of Ministers, President Pedro Sánchez

suspended the trip

he had planned to Paris to deal with the migratory flood that the Spanish border suffers.

“My priority at this time is to restore normalcy to Ceuta.

Its citizens must know that they have the absolute support of the government of Spain and the

utmost firmness

to ensure their safety and defend their integrity as part of the country in the face of any challenge, ”Sánchez said on his social networks.

To the 6,000 immigrants who entered Ceuta illegally, another 300 tried to reach Melilla,

the other

Spanish

autonomous city

, on foot

, although only 86 succeeded.

Moroccans cross the fence in an attempt to reach Spanish soil.

Photo: AFP

And although Spain has already managed to return 1,500 people who crossed the border to Morocco, it will not be able to do so with

minors

who, for now, are around 1,500.

The reckless tone of President Sánchez's words reveals the diplomatic friction that has been eroding relations with Morocco for weeks and that Spain has been trying to minimize until now.

Reasons

The Rabat authorities did not hide their disapproval when Spain agreed to intern the leader of the Polisario Front and president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Brahim Gali,

historically

at

odds

with Morocco,

in a hospital in Logroño, in La Rioja

.

Gali, 73, was admitted from Algeria to intensive care at the San Pedro de Logroño Hospital under the false name of Mohamed Banbatouch.

He tested positive for Covid and has suffered from digestive cancer for years.

The Spanish army detains an immigrant who crossed swimming.

Photo: AP

The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs hastened to justify the transfer of Gali arguing "strictly

humanitarian

reasons

so that he could receive health care."

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, had said that the decision “does not prevent, nor does it disturb, in any way, the relationship with Morocco,

a privileged partner

in the economic, political, migratory, business and fighting areas. against climate change ”.

However, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs "deplored" the Spanish decision in a statement in which it expressed "

disappointment

at this act contrary to the spirit of association and good neighborliness."

Immigrants celebrate having crossed.

Photo: AP

Spain does not diplomatically recognize the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic but maintains relations with the Polisario Front.

Gali, who was a former Saharawi defense minister and former Polisario ambassador in Spain and Algeria, is accused in a case investigated by the Spanish National Court for

torture and disappearances of dissidents

in the Sahrawi refugee camps between 1976 and 1987.

The Moroccan government has not yet ruled on the massive and uncontrolled entry of immigrants to Ceuta, a crisis that increases diplomatic tensions with Spain.

Madrid.

Correspondent

ap

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