Members of Socialist Youth of Santander before the concertinas of the port of the city this Saturday. JJSS (Europa Press)
The port of Santander has stopped the installation of concertinas -wired with blades- on the fences that protect it, a measure that began to be applied a few weeks ago. This security system, harmful to people and which has been removed in places like Ceuta or Melilla, has been placed in various sections of the perimeter of the Cantabrian port to discourage migrants in an irregular situation from sneaking onto ships bound for the United Kingdom, a problem that generates commercial conflict with the shipping companies. The president of the port, Francisco Martín, insisted this Sunday that he does not like these harmful methods, although he assured that his mission is to guarantee that potential stowaways do not enter.
The plans of the port, dependent on the Ministry of Transport, were to add concertinas throughout the exterior of the enclosure, an investment of 200,000 euros, of which 20,000 had already been used to acquire and locate these blades.
That process, reported Martin, is now "paralyzed."
The head of the dependencies pointed out that "the port is not competent" to protect the site.
In addition, he wanted the Ministry of Transport, which has not yet ruled on this change of script, to become aware of "a problem that causes there to be about 12 intruders every night."
The president of the port authority demanded more police officers to protect this area and that it is not necessary to resort to concertinas, a mechanism disapproved by international organizations and by the Ombudsman.
2,000 attempts
The agency has estimated almost 2,000 attempts to sneak onto the boats in 2021, numbers similar to those of 2019, double that of 2018 and 20 times higher than that of 2015. Martín remarked that if these jumps were made daily on the slopes of the Santander airport "immediate measures" would have been taken. State Ports spokespersons explain that this "stoppage" is due to a decision by the Santander authority itself "within its management autonomy", a measure that they say they support.
The docks are seven kilometers long in an urban environment, something that makes it easier for migrants to succeed in their efforts to sneak in and enter the ships.
The port points out that this situation makes some shipping companies avoid Cantabria due to the disorder and the fines that these people hide in their merchandise bound for British soil.