Ceuta residents call for calm amid migrant crisis protests

Residents in Spain's Ceuta appealed for calm on Wednesday as hundreds of rallies were planned nationwide in solidarity with the North African enclave, which is suffering an unprecedented migration crisis that many blame on the central government.

Nearly five weeks after at least 72,000 people crossed from Morocco in a deadly border surge, Ceuta's authorities estimate that over 10,000 migrants, including unaccompanied minors, remain stranded in makeshift camps or scattered across streets and beaches in the enclave.

Their presence has triggered near-daily protests by locals against the Spanish government's handling of the crisis, with demonstrators calling for the migrants to be sent back to their countries of origin or redistributed across Spain.

"The government has failed to act in a critical situation. It's spiralling out of control. We're tired, just like those who came are getting tired, and tensions are rising. There's a point where this will become a powder keg," said Lola, a middle-aged Ceuta resident who gave only her first name.

Francisco Garcia Segado, who heads residents' association FPAV Ceuta, said organisers of the demonstration wanted it to be "clean, free, without disrespecting anyone", and to bar the far right from taking part over concern that activists coming from mainland Spain could stoke violence.

"What we want is tranquility... to go back to normal. Going back to normal means everyone being sent back where they came from," he said.

Recent protests featured sporadic attacks against a makeshift migrant camp at El Trampolin beach and arrests of Moroccan citizens who lobbed stones and bottles at army patrols.

POLITICAL DEADLOCK HAMPERS SOLUTION

Wednesday's Spain-wide protests were called by the FEMP federation of municipalities, dominated by the main opposition conservative People's Party (PP).

Spain's leftist government distanced itself from the initiative, accusing the right of exploiting the crisis for political benefit.

"This is not about defending Ceuta and the Ceutans, it is about attacking the government," Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres told radio station RNE.

A manifesto by citizens' initiative 'Por Ceuta' (For Ceuta), which calls for respect for residents' and migrants' human rights, the orderly return of those without the right to remain, and more security reinforcements, has garnered nearly 65,000 signatures. The initiative says it has no political affiliation.

Left-wing collectives and unions organised counter-gatherings in several cities, including Madrid, to condemn "racist and Islamophobic persecutions and attacks" against migrants in Ceuta since the rush.

Negotiations between local and central government on how to handle the crisis are deadlocked, with the PP, which governs most regions, some in coalition with the far-right Vox, calling for all those remaining, including minors, to be deported.

The government has increased capacity at temporary accommodation centres to more than 3,400 places from about 500, and deployed over 1,600 police.

But local groups and political leaders say this still falls far short of what is needed to keep citizens and migrants safe.

"The central government needs to provide funds and the local government needs to provide space ... that's the battle we're in," said Juan Miguel Morales, director of Sur Acoge charity.

"The response has lacked agility: that much is clear."

-Reporting by Victoria Waldersee in Ceuta, Corina Pons, Emma Pinedo, David Latona in Madrid; Writing by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Gareth Jones/Reuters