This Tuesday, Morocco seemed to ignore the visit of Felipe VI to Ceuta, which extends to Melilla on Wednesday. The Government of Rabat has not so far adopted reprisals such as those applied in 2007 to the visit of Juan Carlos I to the autonomous cities: the withdrawal of the ambassador in Madrid and a statement of condemnation from the Royal Palace. For the moment, it has apparently not tolerated popular protest actions either. The presence of the Spanish monarch in Ceuta, where he will spend the night before continuing his journey to Melilla, has not triggered an official response in the Maghreb country, while civil society views the royal visit as a diplomatically sensitive gesture.
A few kilometers from where Kings Felipe and Leticia were cheered by the people of Ceuta, the border with Morocco in Fnideq (Castillejos, in its name under the Spanish Protectorate) was subject to strict security measures this Tuesday, according to local sources. Two and a half months after the massive crossing on July 30 and 31, when more than 70,000 people broke into the territory of the autonomous Spanish city, at least one truck with a pressurized water cannon, dozens of police vehicles, including tanks, and hundreds of agents from different bodies stood guard at the African border of the European Union.
In the mountains that border the approaches to the Spanish border, police officers were stationed to ensure that no one crossed the security zone. The road that connects Findeq with the Bab Sebta post (Ceuta Gate, in Arabic) was lined with metal fences to prevent access to the beaches and cliffs of the coast, the route followed by the migratory rush at the end of July. The accesses from Tangier to Castillejos were also dotted, according to the sources consulted, with police checkpoints and checkpoints, as well as Gendarmerie patrols at road detours, where plainclothes agents randomly demanded documentation from travelers.
Local Fnideq sources estimate the number of security personnel deployed, including military units, at least 3,000. The majority stay in the empty industrial warehouses near the border with which the Rabat Government intended to boost the local economy after the suppression of the so-called informal border trade, the transfer of hundreds of porters with packages of merchandise. A call launched through social networks by activists and YouTubers has scheduled this Wednesday Castillejos a protest rally against the presence of the King of Spain in the adjacent autonomous city of Ceuta.
Minority sectors of Moroccan society have announced other calls to protest against the royal visit, although for some of them, such as the one scheduled this Tuesday in Agadir (southern Morocco), there has been no news that it has taken place. Activist Yahya Yahya, former senator for Nador and former mayor of Beni Ensar (neighboring town of Melilla), announced in September acts of rejection against what he considered “a provocation” from Spain. Yahya leads the so-called National Committee for the Defense of the Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco and its Territorial Integrity, an organization that only reappears on the public scene occasionally and in moments of bilateral tension with Spain.
Absences at the Spanish Embassy
For now, Morocco's only political gesture towards the visit of Felipe VI was staged by the absence at the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Rabat, where a reception was being offered on Monday night on the occasion of the national holiday of October 12. In recent years, the presence of Moroccan ministers has been common at the annual diplomatic meeting, but on this occasion none of them attended. Morocco is immersed in the process of forming the new Government of the Prime Minister, Fátima Mansouri, who announced precisely on Monday night a center-left coalition pact with three other parties. The reception took place with a low profile, to the point that it did not include the speech of the Spanish ambassador, as is customary.
