Amnesty documents 50 alleged assaults by soldiers and police on migrants in Ceuta

Fifty cases and a systematic pattern

Amnesty International (AI) has raised to 50 the number of documented cases of alleged assaults by military personnel and security forces against migrants in Ceuta since 30 July, when thousands of people entered the autonomous city irregularly. The organisation added 28 new cases to the 22 it reported in its first investigation, published at the end of September. The new cases come from fieldwork carried out between 23 and 26 October. AI says the abuses have kept happening, and it describes a pattern in which soldiers approach migrants sleeping in the street at night and wake them with batons, kicks and punches.

Who is accused and what the injuries were

Of the 28 new cases, 22 involve military personnel, six the National Police and one the Guardia Civil. AI says 18 of the new episodes took place after the Ministry of Defence announced an internal investigation into the first reports. Thirteen of the 28 cases involve minors. AI says it verified injuries through medical reports and testimony, including limb and orbital fractures, head wounds that needed stitches, bruising, and injuries from Taser discharges and pepper spray.

Military personnel22

National Police6

Guardia Civil1

Military personnel

22 cases

National Police

6 cases

Guardia Civil

1 cases

Data from the article text

Accounts collected during the October visit

The organisation recorded the account of a father of three who said he was woken around 3am on 24 October on the Sidi Embarek road and received Taser discharges to the chest. He said he fainted and vomited, that nobody took him to hospital, and that he did not tell his family for fear of worrying them. A 17-year-old said soldiers assaulted him on 18 and 23 October, and he showed the ten stitches he needed to the head after baton blows. A 40-year-old Tunisian man said he was punched in the face at 7am on Benítez beach, a blow that left a bruise blocking sight in one eye for two weeks.

Investigations, protection and NGO criminalisation

AI says that, after consulting the Ceuta prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Defence, it knows of no soldier being investigated or removed from service, and no protection against reprisals granted to victims or witnesses. According to the report, several Ceuta courts opened investigations after AI's first findings and the coverage by elDiario.es. Esteban Beltrán, director of Amnesty International Spain, said:

“After the Ministry of Defence announced an investigation, one would have expected the mistreatment to stop, but it has not: they are persistent.”

AI asks for a swift, impartial and exhaustive investigation, the suspension of the soldiers involved, and criminal and disciplinary responsibility. It wrote to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and to Ceuta's city president, Juan Jesús Vivas, asking them to investigate the reported abuses. The organisation also denounces the criminalisation of NGOs that help migrants, citing No Name Kitchen, which is under investigation for an alleged criminal organisation offence.

Signs of a possible decline

elDiario.es reports that several sources point to fewer abuses in the last week, as the military's presence on Ceuta's streets has shrunk and the National Police and Guardia Civil have taken a larger role in migration raids. The outlet notes that soldiers hold only a legal capacity for surveillance tasks, while the police carry citizen-security functions. AI's latest report nonetheless still describes a pattern of violence that happens mainly at night, and its call for an independent investigation remains open.