A call through social networks for the coordinated entry of thousands of people into Ceuta this Sunday put the autonomous border city on alert. But not everyone. Their neighbors maintained routine and calm while hundreds of people gathered on the Moroccan side, in the city of Castillejos, in the face of a strong police deployment that managed to stop all attempts.
No one managed to enter Ceuta and the Spanish agents, reinforced in number and means in response to the warning, did not have to intervene, according to sources from the Armed Institute. They remained vigilant and intermittently closed the Tarajal border when a group approached the fence. “We have experienced similar cases with sub-Saharans, but this time there was everything,” say those who were there, referring to the presence of many Moroccans and Algerians, many of them minors.
The near-threat was realized in several attempts to cross, which the members of the Civil Guard do not dare to list. “There was a lot of pressure, but the Moroccan side acted and managed to save the vote. The situations occurred in the morning, in the afternoon and of course at night,” explain the sources consulted by elDiario.es.
Result: zero entries made, but a significant drain on resources, offset by the reinforcement sent by the central government. A deployment that will continue, as usual, “until the situation calms down” –
“We have members of the GRS (Reserve and Security Group), boats and helicopters. “This has allowed us to cover the needs,” add the agents, who testify that from sunrise until ten o’clock on Monday morning, there were no new attempts. However, a few minutes before eleven o’clock, Moroccan forces intercepted a small group of bathers who were trying to cross the dike.
The government delegation, represented throughout Sunday at the border post by its head, Cristina Pérez, who maintained “permanent contact with Madrid” to assess the measures based on this version, agrees with this version – that of a pause in the attempts that the day will develop.
Ceuta was only affected by the intermittent closures of the Tarajal, a small additional inconvenience – since “they did not last more than ten minutes” – for those who intended to cross in both directions, especially coinciding with the return from the holidays in mid-September.
In the streets of the city there was a sense of normality, both on Sunday and Monday morning, leaving a city with two speeds. Tense calm on the border with the neighboring country, routine in the neighborhoods and in the city centers, where no one has seen their life changed – permanently conditioned by the border problem -, going as usual to supermarkets and hotels.
The National Police officers also lived in this quiet Ceuta. Sources from the force explain that they remained alert in case their intervention was necessary, but they emphasize that this scenario was far from happening: “We had prepared the possible deployments in case of a jump, but everything happened there, in Morocco, and especially far from the border post. “For the moment, it has not affected us.”
In contrast, the town of Castillejos has become the epicenter of a pitched battle between police and would-be immigrants, fueled by viral messages that resonate particularly with young people. Riots, violence, and tragic images of mothers chasing their children into the water to avoid the dangerous breakwater crossing have dominated local media headlines and Moroccans’ retinas in recent hours.
The minors
Many of those who tried to reach Ceuta this weekend were minors. According to the autonomous city, the majority of children and adolescents who have already arrived are students. They arrive taking advantage of the foggy nights to deceive the authorities guarding the border or the mass calls to execute them. Yesterday, he was one of them.
With 25 new arrivals in September, as confirmed by sources from the Autonomous City government, Ceuta currently has 523 unaccompanied migrant children and young people received, 496% above its limit. In Ceuta, local authorities are trying to “not publicize” the transfers of young migrants to the peninsula to avoid generating a kind of “pull effect”.
The increase in the number of minors arriving in Ceuta has been occurring gradually since the beginning of the year and exploded in August with the arrival of 318 additional minors. The saturation of the reception centres does not allow for the proper care of minors to be guaranteed, as the minors sector itself recognises.
From January to mid-September, 785 migrants, not older than 18, crossed the border illegally to Ceuta. The data contrasts sharply with the 196 – 589 fewer – who obtained the pass in 2023, tripling the income figure.
