CEUTA, Spain – Four individuals have been arrested in Ceuta for stoning a military patrol in the early hours of Saturday, leaving a sergeant with minor injuries, in the latest attack on security forces in the autonomous city. According to Interior Ministry sources, the arrests were made following the stone-throwing incident, while Defence sources indicated that the injured sergeant suffered a gash after falling to the ground.
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The incident occurred near a petrol station adjacent to the rear entrance of the Murallas Reales, on Avenida Martínez Catena. Police reports state that the four individuals threw stones at the soldiers while they were in the area, striking one of them and causing injuries. A pursuit ensued, ending at El Chorrillo beach, where a Guardia Civil Rural Security Group patrol that was in the area was alerted and participated in the operation.
Officers initially arrested three of the alleged attackers, while a fourth managed to flee towards the beach, with the Association of Troop and Sailors of Spain reporting that this individual is a minor. The soldiers themselves conducted a search and located him shortly afterwards, notifying the Guardia Civil to proceed with his arrest. The four detainees were subsequently handed over to the National Police and transferred to the Superior Police Headquarters, where three remained in custody on Saturday afternoon giving statements, while the minor has already been brought before judicial authorities.
The three adult arrestees are expected to be brought before a judge on Sunday, and given their irregular administrative status and the nature of the investigated events, judicial authorities may order measures similar to those adopted in a recent case with similar characteristics. The attack comes just two days after an ambush on a military patrol in the Benzú area on August 27, where a group of between 30 and 40 migrants surrounded a military vehicle and threw stones at the four soldiers inside, leaving several injured and leading to the arrest of twelve Moroccan nationals. On Friday, eleven of those arrested accepted a two-year prison sentence for attack on authority figures, which was replaced by expulsion from Spain for five years, while the twelfth remains in provisional detention after denying involvement.
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The Association of Troop and Sailors of Spain has expressed its maximum concern over the new attack and has reiterated its demand for military personnel to be recognised as authority figures, so that attacks against them receive a more forceful criminal response, and has called for deployed military personnel in Ceuta to be provided with more protection and defence means to carry out their functions with greater safety guarantees. The string of attacks on military personnel has intensified calls for stronger legal and operational measures to protect security forces operating in the increasingly volatile autonomous city.
