Police begin operation to move migrants from Ceuta beaches

Police have begun moving hundreds of migrants in Ceuta to a new tented site in the port area of the Spanish territory in north Africa.

Officers struggled to contain crowds of people jostling to secure a place at the site after weeks of living on the beaches. Shots could be heard, with reports that police fired into the air.

Several hundred migrants have now reached the camp, which has a capacity for 1,700 people.

Most of the 72,000 migrants who breached the border from Morocco in July have returned. Ceuta’s authorities have estimated that 13,000 remain in the enclave, but the Spanish central government has said it is lower.

The operation began at about 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT) on Friday, with more than 3,000 migrants being transferred, according to the Spanish government-owned news agency Efe.

During the process, some migrants broke through the cordon along the designated 2km (1.2 mile) route to the port. Video shows young men running in the darkness as police tried to maintain control.

More than 170 police officers have been deployed, including drone technicians, Efe reported. It added that the situation was later “brought under control quickly”, and the operation was able to continue.

The operation is part of the government’s attempt to concentrate the migrants in facilities where they can be identified and cared for while their administrative status is individually determined.

The chaotic scenes will do little to dampen opposition criticism in Spain of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has faced strong criticism over his handling of the crisis.

Since the migrant influx, residents of the 18.5 sq km (7.2 sq miles) territory have expressed safety concerns. Some have destroyed shelters and blocked aid being supplied to the migrants.

Ceuta’s Mayor Juan Jesus Vivas told lawmakers in the European Parliament earlier this month that the migrants had turned Ceuta into a “pressure cooker”.

“The city is completely different than it was before this event, Ceutans have lost their joy and their lifestyles have been completely shaken up,” the conservative mayor said.

The opposition also accused Sánchez of knowing about the influx of migrants in advance. Sánchez has insisted that it was impossible to predict, but according to government documents, its intelligence services had warned of social media calls for a mass migrant crossing into Ceuta the day before the events happened.

Ester Muñoz of the conservative People’s Party said the government was “directly responsible for the invasion of Ceuta and for those who died”.

Sanchez has blamed trafficking gangs and has also said the crisis was sparked by hoaxes and rumours spread by social media.

Ceuta was “a humanitarian crisis and also an administrative challenge within the city itself”, the prime minister said.

The incident has also created diplomatic headaches for Sánchez.

The prime minister is at odds with Italy, with the two countries earlier this week extending temporary border controls imposed on each other. He is also trying to maintain his bilateral relationship with Morocco.

The influx of migrants in late July came after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta cannot be summarily returned to Morocco.

After the ruling, some social media accounts spread misinformation and offered to help migrants cross the Spanish border for hundreds of pounds.

Thousands of people then flooded across the border fence and swam around the ocean barriers. At least 100 people died during the crossing, according to local authorities.