Protesters set fire yesterday, Thursday, to a refugee camp in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, in North Africa, demanding to be returned to Morocco.
Footage from Benitez Beach, where the migrants had been staying for weeks, shows people repeatedly throwing objects into the fire.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Canadian Anne Carson Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature
A Look Back at Apollon’s International Soccer Players
Police separated the protesters from the migrants, who took refuge on a pier. Earlier, protesters tried to stop Spanish Red Cross vehicles carrying food and water for the migrants.
Ceuta, Spain |
NOW: Police are intervening at Trampolín Beach and trying to disperse protesters who set fire to several shacks housing undocumented immigrants. https://t.co/FW2xFXLlPM pic.twitter.com/v8olXH1fp4
— 𝐄𝐥 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 (@ElImperialEsp) August 27, 2026
Thousands
—as many as 80,000 migrants—are estimated to have entered Ceuta en masse from Morocco in late July, many by swimming. At least 96 people lost their lives, according to official figures.
Most were sent back to Morocco in the days that followed, but several thousand remain in Ceuta.
The conservative opposition—both the People’s Party (PP, right) and Vox (far right)—refer to this as an “invasion” and are demanding that everyone be returned. However, international agreements and rulings by the Spanish courts prohibit mass deportations and require that each case be examined individually.
Unaccompanied minors are entitled to special protection. It is believed that there are 1,500 children and adolescents among the migrants in Ceuta, with 500 considered extremely vulnerable—mostly girls—who are expected to be transferred to mainland Spain.
Pressure
The center-left government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has faced mounting pressure due to the crisis, as the opposition vehemently accuses it of failing to act and of abandoning the residents of Ceuta.
The Socialist Party (PSOE) government is also being criticized for inconsistencies regarding whether the authorities had been warned.
Defense Minister Margarita Robles stated that the CNI, the intelligence agency under her jurisdiction, issued a warning one day before the mass attempt by migrants to enter Ceuta.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlasca and other government officials counter that there was no warning regarding the scale of the crisis.
Prime Minister Sánchez is expected to address the issue, which has sparked international reactions, in the Spanish Parliament next week.
