Dozens of Police units, about 150 officers, are transferring migrants settled on Benítez and El Trampolín beaches this Friday to the camps set up at the port of Ceuta, after the National Court allowed their temporary use on Thursday, following multiple judicial and political disputes over the use of the infrastructure. The start of the operation was marked by the chaos of an initial stampede and tension that resulted in officers firing shots into the air and several people injured. After those moments, the police organized the immigrants into groups along the entire promenade, from Benítez beach to the beginning of the industrial area of the port zone, covering a distance of just under a kilometer.
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Using a megaphone, they called for calm, and the migrants waited for their transfer behind the strong police cordon. For now, the people being transferred belong to the Benítez beach settlement, neighboring the larger El Trampolín settlement. The operation started just before 7:00. The migrants on El Trampolín beach are cordoned off but calm, as they already know they will not be transferred today and have resumed their usual routine.
Before the Police operation arrived, hundreds of migrants were already waiting on the beaches. When only some Civil Guard operatives were in the area, the migrants began running towards the port location, causing a stampede of people advancing along Ceuta’s promenade. Around seven o’clock, when police units arrived, they stopped the migrants’ stampede, halting them to organize the transfer.
Just as the streetlights on Explanada del Puente street went out, the official transfer operation of migrants to the Ceuta Port facilities began. After the chaotic first hour, Police units started the transfer on foot, which covers just over a kilometer to the temporary reception center. The operation is carried out jointly with military units and the Civil Guard. The migrants, mostly men, greeted the start of the march with applause, after a sleepless night waiting since before dawn, prepared with their belongings. The new facilities have a capacity for about 1,700 people.
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The migrant transfer operation to the port experienced various moments of tension. Migrants crowded near the riot police and, when trying to cross through the designated route, a crush occurred. The police fired shots into the air and struck several of them, who had been holding back the push of the hundreds crowding behind them for about an hour.
Removal of minors from the first groups
Transfer personnel located several children who were waiting for their relocation at the port facilities. They were removed from the group, which was waiting seated on the ground according to the officers’ instructions. The reception center is intended for adult males, and unlike the Loma Colmenar operation, where unaccompanied minors were initially accepted, this time they are being prevented from blending in with the others. For now, there are no new centers designated for minors.
