The Popular Party has corrected its discourse and called on Friday for calm and an end to violence in Ceuta, a day after the party avoided explicitly condemning the violent incidents against immigrants in the autonomous city. The first to do so was the Popular deputy for Ceuta Jesús Celaya Brey in the Interior commission where the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, appeared. “After the recent events that, due to the more than justified despair and indignation of the people of Ceuta, because of the Government’s passivity, have led to anger, I want to call for calm,” said the PP parliamentarian. “Anyone who thinks that with violence, harassing journalists or blocking the Red Cross that helps Ceuta, is completely wrong. And it only gives wings to those who want to portray the invaders as victims when the real victims are the people of Ceuta,” complained Celaya Brey.
After the Ceuta deputy, the deputy secretary Elías Bendodo reiterated the same message calling for calm and an end to violence in Ceuta, confirming the change in the PP leadership’s discourse. “We perfectly understand the despair of the people of Ceuta, but we call for calm,” Bendodo stated. “Violence cannot be answered with more violence. The Government must be demanded to assume its responsibilities. The one who has to respond is the Government, which has been abandoning this crisis for a month,” he urged.
The Popular Party rectifies coinciding with the institutional declaration signed in Ceuta this Friday by all the political parties of the Assembly, which rejects “with total firmness the use of any kind of violence.” “The violent do not represent us, they seek to divide us, distract attention from the main issue, and harm the image of everyone and of Ceuta,” says the text read by the Ceuta president, the Popular Juan Jesús Vivas, on behalf of all groups. On Thursday, the Government called on all parties, but especially the PP, which has governed and led Ceuta for 25 years, to help condemn and control this outbreak of violence, after a group of citizens burned part of the immigrant camp on one of Ceuta’s beaches and tried to prevent the Red Cross from distributing food. Ángel Víctor Torres, the highest authority of the unified command, admitted that he himself agreed with Juan Jesús Vivas on a joint message against violence that both launched similarly on Wednesday night. But it was not enough, so Torres asked all groups in Congress, but especially the PP, to join in condemning the violence.
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However, the PP initially avoided, despite these calls from the Government, a firm condemnation of the violence by some Ceuta citizens against immigrants in Ceuta, and only condemned the attack by a group of migrants on a military convoy, which left four officers injured.
When asked if the PP was concerned that Ceuta citizens were taking justice into their own hands, the PP spokesperson, Borja Sémper, replied on Thursday in Congress that “people in Ceuta are desperate” and that “people should not be singled out,” but “those who govern” should be. The Popular spokesperson said that, “of course,” the PP “is always against violence,” but only focused on attacks on the military, not on immigrants. The PP parliamentary spokesperson, Ester Muñoz, said that the people of Ceuta were trying to “restore order” due to the lack of Government support. Now, with the violent escalation in Ceuta advancing dangerously, the PP corrects its course and explicitly condemns any form of violence in the autonomous city.
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