Ceuta (Spain) (AFP) – A month after the illegal influx of thousands of migrants, the Spanish territory of Ceuta lives torn between the drama of those who remained, often still living in the streets, and the tensions of its inhabitants, shared between solidarity and exasperation.

Published on: 09/02/2026 - 4:49 p.m. Modified on: 09/02/2026 - 9:31 p.m.

Otman Ianaya, 40, jumped into the water at the end of July with his wife and their two little daughters to swim to Ceuta from the neighboring Moroccan town of Castillejos, because there is "no work in Morocco".

“I want to build a future in my life,” he explains to AFP journalists.

The four of them sleep outside. Their daily lives improved slightly a few days ago when volunteers brought them blankets and a tarpaulin, which serves as a makeshift roof.

More than 70,000 migrants entered illegally, on foot or by swimming, on July 30 and 31 in Ceuta, one of Europe's only two land borders with Africa, with the other Spanish territory of Melilla. An influx which left dozens dead and missing.

Most left immediately, but several thousand - 5,000, according to the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, or at least 10,000, according to the Ceuta authorities - are still present today, many sleeping in the streets and on the beaches.

"I have a mixed feeling. I am Spanish and of Muslim religion. (This influx), I see it as an invasion", declared to AFP Nabil Abdeselam, one of some 80,000 inhabitants of the small territory of 18.5 km2.

But when “I go out in front of my door, and I come across” a migrant, “I give him a piece of bread,” he continues. “There are no papers, work and a future for all,” laments this 50-year-old Ceutian.

Tense situation

A month after this massive arrival, migrants are wandering the streets in search of food, blankets under their arms, camps are still on the beaches.

The government is preparing centers, where it plans to house all migrants within two or three weeks, to examine their status before possibly deporting them.

The situation, often tense, gave rise to several outbreaks of violence, stoning of military patrols, brawls or sexual assaults. Clashes also pitted police against demonstrators demanding the expulsion of migrants, whose belongings were set on fire one evening on a beach.

On Wednesday, the territory's official holiday, thousands of people marched in the autonomous North African city. Chanting “Invaders, expulsion” or “Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta is defending itself”, the demonstrators brandished numerous Spanish flags. On a sign, a message directly addressed to the government of Pedro Sanchez: "Ceuta never gives up. It is the central government that gives up".

“I want to defend my land, defend my city, where I was born, where I grew up, and above all I want people to listen to us” on the peninsula, Miriam Delgado, 32, a saleswoman, explains to AFP.

“I am the daughter of a Muslim mother, my father is Christian, here we have always lived together. The most beautiful thing that our land has, in addition to being Spanish, is its multiculturality and the fact that we all get along very well,” she assures.

Demonstrations also took place in many other cities in Spain, in solidarity with Ceuta, but also at the call of right-wing or far-right opposition parties, denouncing the government of Pedro Sanchez for its management of the crisis.

In Madrid, where several rallies were organized, tens of thousands of people participated, AFP journalists noted.

“Show empathy”

The vast majority of migrants who arrived in Ceuta a month ago are Moroccan, a priori destined to be expelled as economic migrants. But others come from further afield, like Hibbane Saifi, who intends to ask for asylum.

Opponent of the authoritarian regime in the Comoros, this 32-year-old young man explains that he left his country in 2024 via Tanzania, before going up Africa to Morocco, and taking advantage of the migratory “avalanche” of July 30 and 31 to enter Ceuta.

Saying he was "afraid to return" to his country, where he was "threatened with death", Hibbane requested international protection in Spain.

“These are people in a vulnerable situation, we have to show a little empathy,” underlines Halima Ahmed, spokesperson for the Luna Blanca association, which cooks and distributes hundreds of meals to migrants every day.

Halima says she understands the protests, because “people are tired, people are fed up, people are overwhelmed and afraid.” But this does not legitimize "any form of violence" against migrants who "are human beings with a very often very dramatic history", she concludes.

© 2026 AFP

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