Thousands of people have come to Madrid at the call of the Ceuta women, the mackerels, in a demonstration that starts from the Carlos V roundabout, in Atocha, to ask that Spain not forget the autonomous city and its situation after the massive arrival of migrants at the end of last July.
Before starting the march, the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, who attended the protest, estimated that there were 15,000 migrants who still remain in the city, which represents 20% of the usual population of that territory. And he has not spared criticism of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who, according to Vivas, "could have used all the means and capabilities to immediately return Ceuta to normality and did not do so."
"Ceuta does not understand, and neither do the Spanish, that a President of the Government who was recognizing that the territorial integrity of Spain had been violated, while saying this, was going on vacation. Ceuta and Spain do not understand submission to Morocco," he stressed. He added that the people of Ceuta "legitimately" feel "outraged" with the behavior of Sánchez and with the entire Government.
He has insisted that 15,000 migrants still remain in the city, "with the aggravating factor that there is no time horizon and that not a single return has been made by administrative resolution." He has described the situation as "unbearable" and has highlighted that Ceuta "is not selling itself, Ceuta is defending itself", while expressing the need to "legitimately demand what belongs to Justice", that is, "a return to normality" and that this situation "will not be repeated". Vivas wanted to thank all Spaniards because "together and united we will get ahead," he said.
The demonstration called by Women of Ceuta began this Sunday in Madrid with the aim of demanding solutions so that the autonomous city can return to "normality" prior to July 30, when the massive entry of 80,000 people from Morocco took place. In this sense, they will call for border reinforcement, the return of migrants or the reform of the Immigration Law.
The Ceuta families will march from the Atocha roundabout and will reach the Congress of Deputies, in the Plaza de las Cortes, where they will read a manifesto that will set a deadline for their demands: thirty days for the changes to materialize. "We have not seen any solution in these three months. Ceuta needs an immediate return of immigrants and a reinforcement of the borders with more human, material and technological means," defends Maxi Lacasa, local police in the autonomous city and member of Mujeres Caballas, in conversation with Europa Press.
Likewise, the Mujeres Caballas organization will demand in the protest an urgent modification of the Immigration Law so that it "adapts to the situation in Ceuta and Melilla," insists Lacasa, as well as a decree law with measures for the city. "Why isn't there the same urgency as with housing?" asks the local police.
MOTHERS OF THE FAMILY AT THE HEAD OF THE PROTEST
The Mujeres Caballas organization was born spontaneously and is made up of "heads of family" who belong to different sectors and who ask the entire Spanish society for its support. "We are lawyers, police officers, health workers, teachers... That at the doors of schools, in day-to-day conversations, we were the first to take a step forward to demand that Ceuta has to return to normal," explains Maxi Lacasa.
Security is one of the main reasons that has led the mackerels to travel to Madrid to ask for changes. "We see daily brawls that require health care. There have been more than 400 sexual assaults that occur especially among the migrants themselves because we are confining ourselves," explains the local police.
Lacasa focuses on the need to guarantee protection for migrant women as well. "They are human beings. Why are there no purple dots for them?" he insists. In this sense, he ditches: "Our Ceuta has never been like this. We just want to get back to normal."
For his part, Muñoz explains that in health matters the situation is "dangerous." "Hardly anything has been reinforced. We are abandoned to our fate. The Ministry of Health gives statistical data that is unrelated to the reality we live in," denounces the nurse and general secretary of the Satse union in the autonomous city.
In his opinion, the "care pressure" has not been recognized at any time, which has caused "neither Ceuta residents nor migrants who need it to be properly attended to."
