The protests follow the mass crossing of migrants from Morocco into Ceuta on July 30 and 31 (Photo: Reuters).
Roughly 50,000 protesters gathered in Madrid alone, according to Al Jazeera. The protests follow the mass crossing of migrants from Morocco into Ceuta on July 30 and 31. Least 72,000 migrants crossed into the Spanish territory during the two days, although most have since returned to Africa, according to the BBC. The surge was deadly, with at least 80 people reported to have died. The Spanish government estimates that around 5,000 people remain in Ceuta, including about 1,200 minors, although local figures put the number higher.
A police report issued on Wednesday said Moroccan security forces had shown “total permissiveness” during the unprecedented influx, according to the BBC. Numerous posts circulated in August portraying the border fence between Morocco and Ceuta as safe and easy to cross, despite at several dying while attempting to swim around the border fence, according to figures from Ceuta’s mayor, according to the BBC. In Ceuta, residents draped Spanish and city flags over their shoulders as demonstrations continued amid growing tensions over the migrants who remain in the territory. The protests were organised by city councils in areas where Spain’s conservative Partido Popular (PP) and far-right Vox either govern or have significant support. Demonstrators called for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to resign, while some demanded that migrants be returned to their countries of origin or redistributed across Spain. The influx has become a political crisis for PM Sánchez, with opposition parties accusing him of abandoning Ceuta’s residents. The government, meanwhile, has accused right-wing parties of exploiting the situation.
Thousands of people took to the streets across Spain on Wednesday including the coastal city of Ceuta to protest the government’s handling of a mass influx of migrants into the Spanish exclave on the North African coast.