More than a thousand immigrants had been queuing for 10 days, like teenagers before a superstar concert, at the gates of a large parking lot on the outskirts of Ceuta. There the Army has deployed large tents, so the boys’ goal was to get one of the coveted spots where they could wash, eat, and spend the night. Although, in the background, their main incentive was the widespread – and false – rumor that those who entered the enclosure would obtain papers to stay in Europe through the express route.
This Monday, however, the Police forcibly evacuated this massive queue. The riot police had to fire warning shots into the air in response to the youths’ resistance. Then, they formed a police cordon in the area, while cleaning teams collected hundreds of kilos of garbage accumulated during so many days of waiting at Loma Colmenar.
“They were disturbing the neighbors at night, with fights, thefts, and even sexual assaults at night,” says a senior officer of the Local Police. “I estimate that there have been about 5,000 migrants in this neighborhood. A real madness.”
Until the large migratory wave a month ago, this esplanade was used for vehicles crossing to Morocco to wait for their turn and thus avoid traffic jams at the border itself. The facility has been adapted by the Government so that migrants stop sleeping on the street and can access food, water, or basic hygiene measures. Its first occupants settled there 10 days ago, in 25 large tents equipped with bunk beds.
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The tents were fully occupied within hours, mainly by people who were sleeping in shacks on the famous Trampolín beach. However, the spots were scarce and, hence, the huge queues that formed nearby, as the immigrants saw the work being done to expand the facilities.
This morning, the Army set up a large white tent and allowed entry to a few hundred immigrants, but most were left outside. Hence the scenes of nervousness among the youths, which escalated when the National Police dispersed them. “We had to fire shots into the air, but it was not very problematic,” police sources say.
The eviction has caused shock among the immigrants, who had turned Loma Colmenar into a kind of temporary settlement. Their neighbors, mostly Muslims who speak Arabic, gave them food and hygiene products, although they also asked for their expulsion. “They kick us off the beach, they kick us out of here, where do they want us to go?” said Ahmed, 29, one of the unofficial leaders of the immigrants, who this morning wander around Ceuta looking for a new settlement.
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