Ceuta migrants demand asylum as Spain weighs their return to Morocco

Hundreds of migrants who recently entered Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta staged a protest on a popular city beach, calling on Spanish authorities to grant them asylum rather than return them to Morocco, according to Reuters.

They were among an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 migrants still in Ceuta following the mass border crossing two weeks ago, when more than 72,000 people entered the tiny territory, whose population is around 80,000. The vast majority voluntarily returned to Morocco in the days that followed.

With the city’s resources stretched to the limit, most of those who remained were living in precarious conditions on El Trampolin beach or on the outskirts of the city, awaiting an opportunity to travel onward to mainland Europe.

“We’re sleeping next to the sea, with cold and bad smells. We’re suffering a lot,” said Ayoub Elarroud from Morocco’s Tetouan. He added that police were preventing migrants from entering the city centre.

The protesters held Spanish flags and banners reading “We don’t want to go back to Morocco” and “We are also human,” while chanting slogans including “We’re tired” and “We need a solution.” On the rocky shoreline behind them, some migrants washed their clothes, while others fished with makeshift bamboo rods.

Earlier this week, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said migrants who entered the enclave irregularly would not be allowed to remain there, travel to mainland Spain or obtain legal status, except in rare cases involving extreme vulnerability.

Meanwhile, Enrique Roviralta, head of Ceuta’s medical board, told Onda Cero radio that the city’s limited number of healthcare workers were exhausted and criticised what he described as the central government’s slow response.

By Jeyhun Aghazada