Around 150 police officers began the process of moving migrants encamped on two beaches in Ceuta on Friday to facilities set up at the port in the Spanish exclave city, after the National High Court allowed their temporary use on Thursday following repeated judicial and political disputes. The start of the operation was marked by an initial stampede that led officers to fire warning shots into the air and left several people injured. Once that initial phase had passed, police organized the migrants into groups along the entire promenade, from Benítez beach to the start of the industrial area of the port, occupying a distance of just under 1,000 meters.

The operation was launched in response to growing public concern over the presence of thousands of migrants in Ceuta, an autonomous Spanish city on the coast of North Africa, after a mass breach of the border in late July during which an estimated 80,000 people crossed into the territory. The majority of the migrants returned to Morocco but thousands remain seeking to file asylum claims while living in makeshift camps on the city’s beaches, leading authorities in Madrid to order the temporary opening of more facilities to house them.

Through a megaphone the authorities called for calm, and the migrants waited for their transfer behind a heavy police cordon. For now, those being moved belong to the Benítez beach settlement, adjacent to the larger El Trampolín settlement. The operation began shortly before 7.00 a.m. Migrants on El Trampolín beach were cordoned off but there was no tension as they already knew they will not be moved today and returned to their usual routine.

Before the police operation began, hundreds of migrants were already waiting on the beaches. When only a few Civil Guard units were in the area, migrants began to run toward the port, causing a crowd surge along Ceuta’s seafront promenade. At around 7 a.m., when police units arrived, the stampede was brought under control and the migrants were organized for the transfer to commence.

Just as the streetlights were going out, the transfer operation to the Port of Ceuta facilities officially began. After the first chaotic hour, police units started the foot transfer toward the temporary reception center. The operation was carried out jointly with military units and the Civil Guard. The migrants, mostly men, greeted the start of the march with applause after a sleepless night spent waiting, prepared to leave with their belongings. The new facilities have capacity for about 1,700 people.

The operation to transport migrants to the port experienced several tense moments. The migrants crowded around the riot police, and as they tried to cross along the designated route, a stampede broke out. The police fired shots into the air and struck several of the migrants, who had been holding their ground for nearly an hour against the pressure of the hundreds of people crowding behind them.

Removal of minors

Officers involved in the transfer located several children who were waiting to be relocated to the port facilities. They were removed from the group, which had been sitting on the ground following officers’ instructions. The temporary reception center is intended for adult males, and unlike a previous operation to move migrants to a facility at Loma Colmenar, where unaccompanied minors were initially admitted, on this occasion authorities are preventing them from blending in with the others. For now, there are no new facilities designated for minors in Ceuta.

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