CEUTA, Spain – A mob looted a grocery store in Ceuta this Friday morning as long lines of migrants formed outside various supermarkets awaiting their opening. Police were forced to disperse the crowds gathered at the doors of a well-known supermarket in the city and subsequently organize them into lines to prevent altercations. Reports indicate that at least one grocery store was ransacked by a large group of Moroccan migrants.
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Along the city’s promenade, a massive crowd of people who entered from Morocco in recent hours was seen wandering, sleeping in the streets, and even cooling off in public fountains. Tensions have occasionally flared, with some residents shouting insults at the migrants from their balconies. Meanwhile, very few cafes have chosen to open their doors, while the local citizens of Ceuta remain at their workplaces or inside their homes.
National and Local Police forces have been deployed throughout the center of Ceuta since the early hours of the morning. Their objective is to clear migrants from the area and set up barricades along the streets ahead of the scheduled visit by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
A citizen protest is scheduled to take place at the doors of the Autonomous Palace at 11:45 a.m., coinciding with Sánchez’s arrival. Thousands of migrants have entered the autonomous city since Thursday, arriving either by swimming or on foot along the breakwater that separates the Spanish enclave from Morocco. Police sources estimate that more than 60,000 people have crossed into Spain.
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To manage the situation, the Army has positioned tanks at the access point to Ceuta from the breakwater. The military deployment aims to prevent the crowds from dispersing into the city and to redirect the migrants toward the Tarajal Industrial Estate, an area filled with warehouses being used as a staging ground.
