Contrary to the promises made weeks ago by Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s far-left prime minister, thousands of the illegal migrants who poured into the Spanish city of Ceuta are still there.
September 2 was Día de Ceuta, an annual holiday when the city celebrates the appointment of its first Portuguese governor in 1415 (the Spanish took over a couple of centuries later). This year there were no celebrations, only protests, and those were not confined to Ceuta.
AP:
In Madrid, authorities said some 50,000 protesters turned out. After the demonstration ended, an Associated Press journalist heard shots and explosions. Spanish newspaper El País reported that police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds.
There were significant turnouts also in Barcelona, Valencia and Seville.
Waving Spanish flags, demonstrators shouted “A united Ceuta will never be defeated,” “Sánchez to prison” and “Invaders — go home!” referring to the thousands of migrants still in the city. . . .
Many migrants, including unaccompanied minors, remain sleeping in the streets and camped on a beach despite authorities’ efforts to shelter, register and deport those who are eligible back to Morocco.
“We’re suffering and we want to get to Europe or find a solution right now. Here, we’re all sleeping on the beach and having a really hard time,” Moroccan Nebil Tazi told The Associated Press. “We’ve been waiting for a month, waiting for a solution here, but there isn’t one.”
Meanwhile Sánchez has seen his support drop sharply in the polls.
The Socialist party, known as PSOE, would win 101 seats, with 25.4% of votes, if elections were held today, or 20 fewer than it currently holds, according to a Sigma Dos poll published Monday by newspaper El Mundo.
The conservative People’s Party would rise to 143 seats from the 137 it won in 2023, while far-right Vox would almost double to 61 seats from 33.
There will be a general election next year.