Tension and fear in Ceuta after a massive demonstration against the migration crisis

At the time when the massive demonstration was touring Ceuta and hundreds of thousands of people were gathering in town halls throughout Spain, a group of teenagers were waiting on a beach in the autonomous city for the clouds to clear. Without making much noise, without making the usual fuss, this Wednesday fewer voices than normal were heard on the beach of El Trampolín, where thousands of migrants have been sleeping for a month. Word of mouth spread that this time, Ceuta had mobilized massively during the largest and most numerous demonstration of any that had been held until then. So Zacarías, Ahmed or Kaja waited for everything to pass and were understanding of the anger of the Ceuta people. Separated by a few streets, as the sun went down, they just waited for everything to be over to move freely around the city again. Meanwhile, they did not leave the promenade that surrounds the beaches of El Trampolín and Benítez.

Zacarías Moujahid, 17 years old and from Fez, admits that he is beginning to “be afraid” as he sees how indignation among the population is gradually increasing. “We don't move from the beach because the police are nearby here,” he acknowledges. “I know that people are gathering today and I'm afraid that something could happen, so I prefer not to distance myself from the rest of the people,” says Zacarías. "Of course I understand the indignation and I want to collaborate with the city. I know it's not the majority of people, but there is more tension than before," adds his friend Ahmed Cherogui, also 17 years old and also from Fez.

“Of course I understand your anger,” acknowledges Mohamed Benisse, another migrant who sleeps every day under plastic on a beach where it started raining yesterday. "Until now we came 15 at a time or 20 at a time, but now there are many of us and it seems like an avalanche. It is normal for them to be angry about what they are going through," he points out. Even so, he is clear that he will last in Ceuta as long as necessary, "two years if necessary", although he will not do anything to resist "if they come for me", he adds. One of the few women who lives alongside thousands of men on the streets is Kaja Marimilda, 35 years old and from Casablanca. Every day she feels the fatigue “and how the hatred has been increasing.” Although “it has been a horrible month,” she says she is not afraid that she could become radicalized “because they respect women here.”

Ceuta has the highest population density in Spain, after Melilla. 84,000 people in 20 square kilometers or, in other words, putting all the inhabitants of the city of Pontevedra in a space six times smaller. However, beyond Tarek's kiosk, the majority of the almost 8,000 new inhabitants of Ceuta have settled. In neighborhoods such as Los Rosales, La Pantera, El Príncipe, Loma Colmenar, Hadú or Juan Carlos I, more tension is added to places that are difficult to balance. While in one part of the Muslim-majority city scenes of refugee camps take place and people sleep en masse on the street, in another the residents lead a relatively normal life, since the Army prevents migrants from entering the central almond of the city.

Another of the Ceuta residents who did not take to the streets on Wednesday was Abdellah Mustafa, president of the neighborhood association organized next to the Sidi Embarek mosque. Although he is as fed up and tired as the rest of Ceuta, he believes that the protests have led to attacks on Muslims that he did not like, despite the fact that every day he rolls up his sleeves to give almost 5,000 meals to migrants.

“I am not speaking out because [the president of Ceuta] Juan Jesús Vivas has participated in hate speech against Muslims and, when we denounced that there could be a big mess, he decided to put on the brakes because he was destroying the city and coexistence,” Abdellah denounces. "Vivas has not operated as the leader of Ceuta, but has incited hatred against Pedro Sánchez. In 2021 he behaved like a statesman, but on this occasion he has acted in a partisan manner. And he is the hand that moves everything," he reproaches.

There are several daily demonstrations in the city and violent incidents have been almost an anecdote in a city that has been building up tension for a month. However, for a part of the people of Ceuta there is the thesis that, by putting pressure on the organizations that feed them, they will leave sooner. That food, however, is what keeps the city from turning into a walking dead, with thousands of starving people walking aimlessly from side to side, shuffling their feet.

Taxi driver Yusuf also did not attend the demonstration.

-Because?

"Because I have to work at that time, but not for lack of desire," he answers.

—Can you give me your reasons?

"I'll give them to you as long as you don't ask me the idiotic question that everyone outside asks me," he says.

—And what is that question?

—What if in this mess I am with the migrants or with the people of Ceuta for being Muslim. "Can you ask such a stupid question?" he asks himself. "Of course I'm fed up with this situation and I want everyone to leave as soon as possible. I am Spanish and I am Ceuta. But how can a country be confused with a religion? "You have to be ignorant," he protests at the question heard a thousand times.