Eviction of a migrant settlement on Benítez beach in Ceuta

Since seven in the morning, members of the National Police have been deployed on Benítez beach, in Ceuta, to evict between 300 and 400 people who, according to police sources, were in the settlement. The migrants still remained on the last stretch of sand, just before the desalination plant, on the other side of Trampolín beach. The agents arrived at the stores around eight o'clock, with dawn, and completed the evacuation after 11:30, when the cleaning and recovery work on the space began.

The Police have been calling around the shops and asking the immigrants to leave them and, at first, they have located them next to the beach wall, where an interpreter has explained to them that they are going to be transferred by buses to the Temporary Attention Center for Foreigners (CATE) of the autonomous city to take their information. Likewise, they have been given the possibility of voluntarily returning to Morocco after being affiliated. Half an hour after the start of the evacuation, the first bus has begun to travel the nearly two kilometers that separate the beach from the El Tarajal industrial estate, where the center is located.

About 120 police officers with around twenty vans are working in the device, which seeks the complete evacuation of Benítez beach. The majority of the immigrants who slept on this beach are adult North African men, although there are also teenagers. Many fear being deported to Morocco. Among the group there were only two women whom the Police have separated. The agents have also cordoned off the Trampolín beach, which is located a few meters away, so that the migrants who are there do not approach the area they are currently evacuating. After the evacuation of the sandy area, work has begun to recover and adapt the beach.

The immigrants have been vacating the stores with their belongings, mostly without resistance. About twenty immigrants have managed to overcome the police cordon and have run towards the center of the city, the agents have detained a part of them and returned them to the beach along with the rest, waiting to be transferred to the CATE.

Upon arrival in El Tarajal, the adult immigrants have been admitted to the center to have their data taken, which has generated confusion among those who are in the polygon settlement. Since they were transferred on buses this Tuesday, they believe it is the previous step to being returned to Morocco. This center in Loma Colmenar is located near the border with Morocco and new tents have been set up there, while spaces have been left free for people who have chosen to voluntarily return to their country. Also today some have chosen to return to Morocco.

The minors have been transferred along with the adults from the beach to the El Tarajal industrial estate, although, upon arrival, they have been transferred in vans to the centers where the children and adolescents are being affiliated in the autonomous city.