Humanitarian Tents Planned For Ceuta As Spain Tackles Migrant Influx
Ceuta the autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast, bordered by Morocco. Photo by Víctor Fernández Salinas, Wikipedia Commons.
Key Takeaways:
- Spain is setting up temporary humanitarian tents in Ceuta to shelter at least 1,500 migrants as a short-term response to the ongoing crisis.
- Official estimates of remaining migrants range from 5,000 (Interior Ministry) to around 10,000 (local authorities and police), including over 2,000 registered minors, while hospitals and security forces report severe strain.
- The opposition People’s Party is demanding mass deportations to Morocco and rejection of asylum claims, while the local mayor threatens legal action against the central government for inadequate support.
(EurActiv) — The Spanish government will set up temporary humanitarian tents in Ceuta to host 1,500 people as a stopgap measure to address the migrant crisis the city has faced over the past two weeks.
Speaking to radio network Cadena Ser, Migration Minister Elma Saiz said that the tents could accommodate more people than initially anticipated.
“Once the facilities are up and running, there will be more. I don’t want to set a limit,” she said on Tuesday.
Neither Saiz nor other ministers have clarified what will happen to the migrants still in the city or how long the situation will last. Spanish authorities claim that most of the 80,000 migrants who entered the tiny Spanish city in North Africa in late July have returned voluntarily.
Yet the interior ministry has increased its estimate of those remaining to up to 5,000, while Ceuta Mayor Juan Jesús Vivas maintains that around 10,000 remain on the streets of the city, which has just 84,000 inhabitants.
Security forces confirmed to Euractiv that the number of migrants remains closer to the 10,000 estimate, with many migrants camped along the beach.
An interior ministry spokesperson confirmed the police had registered 2,168 minors in Ceuta, and specific facilities to house children are at maximum capacity.
The main opposition People’s Party (PP) has strongly condemned the handling of the crisis by socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government, urging it to reject all asylum claims and deport all remaining migrants back to Morocco.
“European legislation – which is national law – establishes that Morocco is a safe country and that, therefore, those who come from Morocco have no right to asylum in Spain… in that regard, the course of action must be deportation,” said PP heavyweight Cuca Gamarra from Ceuta on Tuesday.
However, among the migrants are large groups of Sub-Saharan Africans and even Afghani and Palestinian nationals, who, under international law, could be eligible for asylum.
A day earlier, Vivas, who also belongs to the centre-right PP, said the city remained at “extreme risk” and threatened to take legal action against the central government over its “failure to fulfil its duties” and to urgently resolve the crisis.
Medical associations in Ceuta have warned of a “collapse” in hospital services amid the mass influx of people, while police unions alerted to an increase in violence and insecurity in the city, citing a lack of personnel and resources to address the crisis.
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