THE emotions currently running through the population of Ceuta has best been described as fear and uncertainty, one local told The Olive Press.
Jesus, 22, spoke to this newspaper from the eye of the storm.
“I cannot leave the house. All the shops are closed. Transport is not working. There is no bread at the bakeries,” Jesus said.
As many as 60,000 Africans have flooded the city, mostly crossing the Tarajal breakwater from Morocco to the Spanish territory.
Jesus and his family have not left the house in two days and have even resorted to walking their dog to the garage and back to get it some exercise.
“I was not conscious of the magnitude of this until yesterday morning,” Jesus continued. “This is a dystopian situation”.
Earlier this month, Spain’s highest court ruled that migrants intercepted swimming towards Ceuta or Melilla cannot be automatically turned back at the border, the way people are when they try to climb over the land fence instead.
This ruling was used by the Moroccan government and as a claim through social media to encourage people to massively swim to Spain.
Now, the city hosts thousands of immigrants, far exceeding the capacity and resources of a city of 83,000 inhabitants.
It has been reported that perhaps half the number has already returned to Morocco voluntarily, but it still leaves tens of thousands in the city illegally.
“They are all camping on the streets. CETI is collapsing,” Jesus tells us, referring to Ceuta’s largest Temporary Stay Centre for Immigrants, which can only host 512 people.
“The army is sending them to different points of the city, but there are no resources, no spots. The streets are flooded with trash,” he continues.
The numbers of this migratory wave far overpower those of 2021, when around 20,000 immigrants arrived at Ceuta.
One of the most used methods is swimming surrounding espigones (maritime breakwaters) that separate Moroccan from Spanish waters.
“Television is not talking about this invasion enough. Right now, immigrants are being peaceful, but once they are scared and hungry, they might rebel, as that is human nature,” Jesus considers.
He hopes that the situation might be more controlled for Monday, although the situation is of peak tension.
“I have come back home to relax, and now I cannot leave my house,” he concludes.
Videos circulating on social media have shown what appears to be isolated incidents of vandalism and theft, with one corner shop being looted.
Police were also deployed outside a Mercadona as a large group of Moroccans gathered outside.
Most of the tens of thousands who stormed the border arrived with nothing but the clothes on their backs, with little seeming intention of battening down and staying in Ceuta long term.
So it could be hunger that is driving them back across the border to their own country.
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