Over 30,000 Spaniards peacefully gathered in Madrid on Sunday to demand solutions for Ceuta as the North African exclave nears the third month anniversary of the ongoing mass illegal migrant invasion of its territory.
Sunday’s peaceful demonstration at the Spanish capital city was organized by Mujeres Caballas, a female civil organization that arose in the aftermath of the late July migrant invasion of Ceuta. The group reportedly identifies itself as an apolitical, multi-religious organization of women united in the defense and future of their city.
According to Spanish outlets, Mujeres Caballas started as an initiative from women who immediately began to suffer the consequences of the invasion in their lives and that of their families and communities. Many of the female group’s members are mothers of young children, healthcare professionals, teachers, and security officials.
The demonstrators once again called upon the government of socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to finally enact urgent measures that can restore normalcy for the ailing city, whose inhabitants continue to experience a severe deterioration of their livelihood after tens of thousands of illegal migrants swarmed into the exclave.
The head of Ceuta’s local government, Juan Jesús Vivas, accompanied the Madrid demonstration.
Vivas, who has repeatedly denounced the situation in Ceuta over the past months, reiterated to reporters that the situation at the invaded city is far from normal and “absolutely unsustainable” three months later — emphasizing that the city’s residents feel legitimately “indignant” with the actions of the Sánchez administration, or lack thereof.
Vivas stressed that his office estimates that there are still about 15,000 illegal migrants that remain inside Ceuta following the late July invasion, an amount equal to 20 percent of the exclave’s current population.
He detailed that the continued presence of the invading migrants has led to a 60 percent increase in crime, and a staggering 400-percent increase in medical emergencies across Ceuta healthcare facilities. Additionally, the invasion’s lingering consequences caused a five percent GDP drop in the city’s economy over the past three months, Vivas’ office found.
The official accused the Spanish central government of not having carried out a single deportation of an invading migrant through administrative channels. Per, Vivas Pedro Sánchez “could have used all available means and resources to restore normalcy to Ceuta immediately, but he did not.”
“Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta is defended,” Vivas exclaimed, calling for a similar situation to never happen again.
“Together and united, we will move forward,” he added.
Per the public broadcaster RTVE, Maxi Lacasa, a Ceuta resident and police officer that travelled to Madrid to organize Sunday’s rally, denounced that that there are only “two civil guards” currently guarding Ceuta’s borders with Morocco. She warned that the city has not seen a single solution from the Spanish government over the past three months.
“Ceuta needs the immediate return of migrants and a strengthening of its borders with more human, material, and technological resources,” she said.
El Pueblo de Ceuta observed that the rally’s organizers read a manifesto containing nine critical demands urging the Spanish government to address the situation in Ceuta — including the reinforcement of the exclave’s borders; greater responsibility from Spain and the European Union in the protection of the city; an urgent Royal Decree that expedites the deportation or voluntary departure of the remaining invading migrants; reforms to the Spanish migration laws; and the urgent restoration of security and normalcy so that Ceuta’s residents can finally return to their normal lives and safely make use of the exclave’s public areas, among others.
The organizers gave a 30-day deadline to the Spanish government to “start seeing solutions.”
In addition to Sunday’s mainland rally in Madrid, local Ceuta residents staged an equally peaceful demonstration at the exclave right in front the headquarters of the central government’s delegation, expressing the same demands for solutions that can finally bring an end to the ongoing invasion of their city.
Per El Faro de Ceuta, several of the protests’ participants affirmed that they believe the central government could have already solved the crisis if it had the “willingness” to do so.