Ceuta, population 83,000, suffered what is being described as its worst night of vandalism last night since some 70,000 migrants poured across the Moroccan border at the end of July. Vehicles and rubbish containers were set alight in several districts, fires were started among belongings in migrant encampments and police intervened in several fights between migrants.
Madrid puts the number remaining in its North African exclave at around 5,000. But current estimates in Ceuta suggest it is almost double.
Night after night, Spanish television shows disturbing scenes from Ceuta
Nearly 13,000 pupils are due to return to school today under an extraordinary security operation. The Education Ministry has arranged private guards inside and outside schools around the clock, while the National Police, Guardia Civil, local police and armed forces have been brought into the operation to protect school routes. Some municipal nurseries have postponed reopening until later in September.
El País reports that one mother had to buy pepper spray on the mainland because it had sold out in Ceuta. Her daughter used to walk to school alone. ‘That’s no longer possible,’ she says.
