MADRID, Spain – The National Police carried out an operation throughout Sunday to begin dismantling the settlement on Trampolín beach in Ceuta, where more than 3,000 migrants live, with a total of 1,100 migrants evacuated and nearly 600 Moroccans choosing to return voluntarily to their country of origin rather than pass through the Temporary Reception Centre for Foreigners for identification.
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Minister Ángel Víctor Torres, coordinator of the Single Command for managing the Ceuta crisis, explained that the transfer was carried out successfully and without incidents from first thing in the morning until sunset. He said it allowed the evacuation of a large part of Trampolín beach, to the point that 1,100 migrants were moved to regulated resources and it was done without relevant problems, also expressing his gratitude to the state security forces, the army, other entities and the translators who took part in the operation, adding that work continues tirelessly to achieve normality in the city of Ceuta. The high number of people opting to return to their country comes as they realise they will not be able to apply for international asylum protection, choosing to go back to Morocco after spending more than two months in the city.
This scene is similar to the one that took place days ago when more than 150 migrants remaining on Benítez beach chose to return to Morocco rather than be registered, understanding they had no grounds to request international protection, the only requirement for being transferred to reception facilities enabled by the government. The National Police transported these people by bus and later near the Tarajal border, where the CATE facilities are located, to be identified, with officers also highlighting the absence of incidents during the operation, in which a total of 350 officers are working.
The evacuation forms part of a first phase of a broader operation in which a large number of human and material resources took part, starting after 8am, when officers spread across the sand and began banging on the shacks to wake the migrants sleeping inside. They then gathered all the migrants on the ground and surrounded the large group of people, forming an extensive police cordon, with more than 350 officers participating in total. More than 30 police vans joined two medium wheeled armoured vehicles and a third high-mobility tactical vehicle attached to the Police Intervention Units to prevent possible altercations. The operation aims to clear the shanty settlement, with migrants taken by bus throughout the day to the Temporary Centre for Foreigners, where those who wish will undergo the corresponding triage, and as happened during the evacuation of Benítez, they will also have the option of being taken to the border to return voluntarily to Morocco, when the settlement of just over 300 migrants was dismantled and the vast majority decided to return to their country.
The Interior Ministry sought to reinforce resources for this operation given its scale, aware that more than 3,000 people sleep at Trampolín. As police explained, Sunday’s action is a first phase of the beach evacuation, with only part transferred since there are not yet enough available places in reception facilities. The operation also comes days after the Ceuta government warned that the water at this beach is contaminated as a result of its use by migrants.
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The operation passed without major incidents, although several police officers had to separate several migrants who had protested from the group and take them to police vans. The government had feared altercations arising from the lack of control due to the large volume of people, as happened in previous experiences when stampedes occurred as people tried to be among the first to be selected to leave the beach. The aim of this operation is to clear the section of Trampolín closest to the Desalination Plant, with the Autonomous City’s Environment Department having reached an agreement with the ministry for the area to protect the installation by clearing it of settlements and fencing it off to prevent tents from being put up again, with the surroundings of the Desalination Plant in Benítez already fenced off after the evacuation that took place last Tuesday.
