Moroccan security forces displayed “total permissiveness” during the unprecedented migrant rush into Spain‘s north African territory of Ceuta in July, according to a Spanish police report seen by AFP on Wednesday.
The report said the police deployment around the border “was clearly smaller than usual” and cited migrants who spoke of the “passive attitude” of Moroccan officers as tens of thousands of people crossed into Ceuta.
On Wednesday, thousands took to the streets to protest the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ceuta, demanding solutions and blaming Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for his government’s handling of it.
Waving Spanish flags, they shouted “A united Ceuta will never be defeated,” and “Invaders – go home!” referring to the thousands of migrants still in the city.
Last month, about 72,000 people poured into the small Spanish territory neighboring Morocco, with at least 90 dying in the effort to reach Europe.
Read more‘We won’t go back’: Young Moroccan migrants in Ceuta refuse to abandon their European dream
Most of the migrants quickly returned or were ushered back over the border, but around 5,000, including 1,200 minors, remain in Ceuta weeks later, according to the national government. Difficult questions likewise linger over what caused the mass crossing that the government says was fueled by an online campaign on social media.
The sudden influx of tens of thousands of migrants into Ceuta, which has a population of about 84,000, put a huge strain on resources and angered many residents. Local authorities said that Spain’s central government ignored warning signs before the border was breached.
“What happened to us was not a migratory crisis,” Ceuta’s regional leader, Juan Jesús Vivas, said during an institutional act on Wednesday to mark the holiday. “What happened was the violation of Spain’s territorial integrity.”
Vivas is a member of Spain’s leading conservative Popular Party which, with Spain’s far-right Vox party, has latched onto the Ceuta crisis and made it the focus of a political fight to oust the left-wing government in Madrid.
The organiser of Wednesday’s protests in Madrid and more than 200 other towns is the officially nonpartisan Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces. But the protests are being promoted by PP and Vox, which is strongly against irregular migration.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
