Spanish police vacate migrant camp on Ceuta beach

Spanish police evacuated this Sunday (4) a migrant camp on a beach in the exclave of Ceuta, in North Africa. At the end of July, more than 72 thousand people crossed the border with Morocco and entered the territory.

Although most migrants later returned, at least 10,000 remain in the Spanish exclave, straining local resources and fueling tensions.

Police removed the migrants from Trampolim beach, where around 3,000 people had been living for two months in tents and makeshift shelters. They have been transferred to temporary accommodation, where they will undergo screening or be able to return to Morocco, a spokesperson for the Spanish Interior Ministry told Reuters.

Tensions persist due to the presence of migrants sleeping outside in the small exclave, which has around 80,000 inhabitants. Residents held a demonstration on Saturday (3) to ask the migrants to leave the area.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are expected to visit Ceuta on October 13 and 14, for the first time in the monarch's 12-year reign.

The visit comes amid long-standing tensions with Morocco, which claims sovereignty over both Ceuta and Melilla, the other Spanish exclave in North Africa.