Overwhelmed Police in Ceuta Report Daily Sexual Assaults

CEUTA, Spain – The National Police are receiving daily reports of sexual assaults committed by Moroccan illegal immigrants involved in the invasion of Ceuta, with both minors and adults targeting their compatriots. Among the victims are girls, adolescents, and women, according to Jupol, the majority police union.

Man Arrested in Cadaqués for Sexual Assault

According to Laura García, spokesperson for the union, “many rapes have occurred. We receive calls reporting new ones on every shift.” However, only six victims have formally filed complaints. In the case of minors, the Public Prosecutor’s Office acts ex officio. Jupol also noted that “no arrests have yet been made for these crimes,” meaning the perpetrators remain at large in Ceuta.

Between July 30 and August 5, at least 10 sexual assaults were recorded, with victims including Moroccan girls as young as 14. The affected individuals attended hospital or were accompanied by police, and forensic examinations revealed that “some showed visible serious genital injuries” upon initial examination. The victims reported being raped by their fellow border assault companions, with whom they had shared spaces to avoid interception by police and military forces deployed to halt the invasion.

According to the Ceuta government, between 8,000 and 11,000 illegal immigrants remain in the city, a figure far exceeding the 2,000 reported by the national government. The Executive has been forced to revise its invasion figures, raising the number of illegal immigrants who stormed Ceuta to 80,000—30,000 more than initially stated.

@trece_es

🗣"Hay violadores ahora mismo en la calle" ➡Laura García, portavoz de JUPOL, denuncia en ‘El Cascabel’ de TRECE el aumento de la inseguridad en Ceuta durante la crisis migratoria.

♬ sonido original – TRECE

Ceuta’s president, Juan Jesús Vivas, has described the situation as “absolutely unsustainable, unacceptable, and intolerable,” calling for the urgent establishment of a Foreigners’ Internment Centre where these individuals could be housed and confined. Such a measure, he argues, would expedite expulsion proceedings, address basic needs, and prevent thousands from continuing to wander the streets without shelter. Jupol paints a picture of overwhelmed agents and rising street tensions, with chaos unfolding on Monday as fights broke out among illegal immigrants outside the Superior Police Headquarters as they sought to avoid repatriation to Morocco. The military has been deployed to assist police in containing the influx of unaccompanied minors, with 1,342 already identified and housed, and nearly a thousand more awaiting processing.

Jupol accuses the government of “whitewashing what is happening” and “looking the other way,” stating that police on the ground are “absolutely abandoned” due to a lack of sufficient reinforcements from Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. The union describes the current deployment of 260 riot police as “ridiculous” and “totally insufficient” in the face of potential new invasions. Officers receive an average of 200 calls per day, including those reporting sexual assaults, and the union emphasizes that the rape situation is “very worrying” and must be made public.

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The ongoing crisis has left citizens in Ceuta living in fear, with illegal immigrants roaming the streets, building makeshift shelters on beaches and hills, committing robberies, and engaging in confrontations. “Children cannot go out alone, and citizens are organizing to walk in groups,” García detailed. Cases have been reported of women living on the outskirts making only fortnightly shopping trips, with taxi drivers carrying goods to their homes due to fear for their safety. The government’s extraordinary measure of cancelling leave and permits for Civil Guard and military personnel deployed in Ceuta and Melilla has generated widespread discontent, with both groups criticizing the decision as unjust and a labor risk, arguing that exhausted personnel are less effective. The decision, they conclude, “is the best proof that there is a serious security problem.”