Spanish government appeals for calm after anti-migrant protests and beach clashes in Ceuta

Beach camp attacks and aid blockades

Tensions in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta culminated in direct confrontations on Thursday as local demonstrators marched on informal migrant settlements along Benítez and Trampolín beaches. Protesters tore down makeshift shelters, threw furniture and personal items into burning piles, and chanted slogans demanding that migrants leave the territory. Demonstrators carrying Spanish flags also established sit-in blockades on access roads leading to the shore, chanting slogans against the Red Cross and preventing humanitarian trucks from delivering food and drinking water. Red Cross personnel were forced to find alternative routes under police protection to complete distributions, while riot police deployed tear gas, rubber bullets, and baton charges to disperse the crowd and protect migrants who had retreated onto a stone breakwater.

Military vehicle attack and street confrontations

The beach disturbances followed mounting unrest and clashes across the 18.5-square-kilometre enclave earlier in the week. On Wednesday evening, police used tear gas to separate opposing groups of residents and migrants during late-night street altercations. On Thursday, twelve Moroccan nationals were arrested after surrounding and throwing stones at a Spanish military vehicle carrying four soldiers, leaving one serviceman injured. Two additional arrests were made after a migrant assaulted a police officer. The unrest follows the mass entry of between 60,000 and 80,000 people from Morocco across 30 and 31 July, when thousands swam around border breakwaters, resulting in more than 100 suspected drownings.

Political leadership calls for calm

In response to the deteriorating security situation, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska addressed parliament in Madrid on Friday to condemn the attacks and urge an immediate de-escalation.

I call for calm and an end to any form of violence, because violence is not the way to resolve any problem with the complexity of that facing Ceuta.

Grande-Marlaska accused right-wing and far-right factions of inciting hatred in the territory of 80,000 residents. Meanwhile, Ceuta's regional president, Juan Vivas of the conservative People's Party, issued an institutional address rejecting all forms of vigilantism while acknowledging resident frustration.

No one can or should take the law into their own hands. The defence of Ceuta and the interests of its people can only be pursued through legality.

Shelter disputes and parliamentary review

Madrid has assumed direct management over the crisis, empowering Minister of Territorial Affairs Ángel Víctor Torres to coordinate policy across jurisdictional lines. Local authorities and residents have resisted central government proposals to house unhoused migrants in municipal sports halls to expedite processing. Between 5,000 and 10,000 migrants remain in the enclave, including approximately 1,500 unaccompanied children and adolescents. Authorities plan to transfer 500 vulnerable minors, primarily girls, to the Spanish mainland. Under Spanish law and international treaties, collective expulsions remain prohibited, requiring case-by-case processing before any deportations can occur. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is scheduled to appear before parliament on 3 September to address the crisis, amid conflicting cabinet accounts regarding whether the National Intelligence Centre provided advance warning of the July influx.