The Police evict hundreds of migrants who remained in Guano, the last large settlement

The National Police were deployed early this Sunday on the esplanade next to the Guano factory to evict the last large illegal settlement that remained in Ceuta of migrants who arrived in the autonomous city during the massive entry on July 30 and 31.

More than twenty vans from the Police Intervention Unit (UIP) began arriving after 8:00 a.m. to the esplanade, where until this Sunday less than a thousand Moroccans were camping since the eviction of the shanty settlements on the beaches of Trampolín and Benítez.

In a matter of an hour, the area had been cleared practically in its entirety and the cleaning workers have begun to remove the shacks that had been set up for more than two months, according to TVE from the site of the eviction.

The first buses have already left Guano with migrant minors, who have been transferred to the Police Headquarters to be identified and welcomed in the centers enabled by the Government of the autonomous city. For their part, adult migrants have been taken to CATE, the temporary care center for foreigners, located in the Tarajal industrial estate, where they will be identified and affiliated and subsequently taken to one of the camps set up by the central government while the asylum procedures are resolved.

Those who do not want to go through this process have the option of voluntarily returning to Morocco on buses that will leave them at the Tarajal border.

This new police device has been developed just over 48 hours before the official visit that King Felipe VI and Letizia will make to Ceuta next Tuesday, in a city that continues to face the consequences of the migration crisis that began more than two months ago.

Hence, the eviction of Guano does not imply the complete removal of all migrants from the streets. The esplanade was the last settlement with a significant concentration of Moroccans, but hundreds of them still wander the streets of neighborhoods such as El Príncipe or Los Rosales, others are hidden in the mountains or live in flats that the Spanish authorities are progressively dismantling.

More than 500 migrants have remained in Guano, trying to overcome the cold and rains that have begun to hit the city two weeks ago. Among them, around a hundred are minors, and days ago they demonstrated there to ask for their relocation to shelters.

Around 1,700 people were taken from the beaches of Benítez and Trampolín, of which the vast majority (with the exception of minors and some small groups of adults) chose to return to their country.

It was estimated that more than 3,500 people spent the night in Trampolín alone, so the rest scattered around the city to avoid getting on those buses. Many of them fled to the mountains, where they still remain.

Moroccans who have fled are aware of the enormous likelihood that their asylum requests will be denied. They also know that once they receive the final denial they will face an expulsion order from Spain for 5 years.

This is why many prefer to return voluntarily to Morocco, because they retain the aspiration to return in the future. Others remain hidden in the city without considering the option of returning or becoming affiliated and later requesting asylum. According to police sources, the latter hope to have an opportunity to cross irregularly to the peninsula.