Evacuation of a migrant camp on a beach in Ceuta

An operation to evacuate illegal immigrants from a large illegal encampment located on a beach in Ceuta was launched on Sunday, a little over a week before the visit of the Spanish sovereigns to this enclave in North Africa, Spanish police confirmed to AFP. “A first phase of evacuation of migrants” present on Trampolín beach is underway, said a spokesperson for the National Police in Ceuta. This beach is home to the largest illegal illegal camp in the city, since the massive entry of people from Morocco at the end of July.

The authorities estimate that 3,000 people are settled there. They sleep in makeshift shelters made of pieces of wood and tarpaulins and receive food daily from the Red Cross. The evacuation is taking place with a reinforced security system, mobilizing around 350 police officers, numerous vans as well as the support of soldiers and military armored vehicles, the spokesperson said.

Illegal immigrants will be taken care of

The migrants will be taken to a reception center for foreigners in order to be identified, then housed in a temporary camp set up by the authorities, the same source said. It is possible that the evacuation of all the migrants present on the beach cannot be completed, warned the spokesperson, the transfer having to be interrupted if there are “no more places available” in this temporary camp.

The evacuation of the Trampolín beach camp comes before the visit to Ceuta, scheduled for October 13, of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. This trip, the king's first to Ceuta since his accession to the throne in 2014, presents delicate diplomatic issues, with Morocco claiming hypothetical sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla, the other Spanish exclave in North Africa that the royal couple will also visit.

Ceuta, which has just over 80,000 inhabitants, experienced an influx of more than 70,000 illegal immigrants from Morocco on July 30 and 31. More than a hundred of them lost their lives, mainly at sea, according to the authorities in Madrid and Rabat. If the vast majority left in the hours that followed, several thousand remained in the small autonomous town. The situation there has deteriorated, sparking tensions and demonstrations by the local population, who are demanding a return to normal.