15 Nov, 2020 @ 11:15
1 min read

Demonstrators gather to protest conditions of refugee and migrant camps in Canary Islands

Manifestaci  N Por Los Derechos De Los Inmigrantes En Gran Canaria
14 November 2020, Spain, Santa Lucía de Tirajana: A participant in a demonstration carries a poster "No one is illegal". People demonstrated for the rights of migrants in Gran Canaria with a motorcade through several places on the island. Photo: Manuel Navarro/dpa

PROTESTORS have taken to the streets of Gran Canaria to demand better conditions in the new refugee and migrant camps in Arguineguin.

Along the dock, over 2000 people, who have recently arrived from Africa, are living in conditions that an immigration judge has called “inhumane and degrading”.

Hotels in Gran Canaria have also demanded help from the mainland Spanish government.

Approximately 4,000 migrants are living in tourist hotels due to the lack of space in reception centres, aid groups have said.

Demonstrators in cars and on foot protested across the island of Gran Canaria on Saturday, November 14.

But the number of protestors, who came in their hundreds to support the refugees, were noticeably lower than at the anti-migrant protests that took place at the start of November where thousands took to the roads.

The unrest comes after 17,000 people have taken the dangerous route across the Atlantic from Africa to the Canary Islands this year.

This figure is 10 times greater than the total in 2019.

Spain’s regional policy minister has said there will be greater sea patrols going forwards and that more migrant reception centres will be built on the island.

However, the Canaries president Ángel Víctor Torres has been clear that the islands cannot become a holding area for new arrivals.

Lydia Spencer-Elliott

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