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Thousands of Ceuta residents protest against the Spanish government's migration policy - VIDEO

First News Media12:40 - 10 / 08 / 2026

More than 10,000 residents of Ceuta gathered on Sunday to protest against the actions of the central authorities amid a large-scale migrant crisis, after more than 70,000 migrants broke into this Spanish enclave in Africa last week, the organizers of the rally said.

Official figures from the National Police put the number of participants at about 5,000.

Despite the call for unity issued by the city's four religious communities — Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu — as well as the request by Juan Vivas, chairman of the People's Party in this autonomous city, for people to attend the rally regardless of citizenship, the slogans and symbols of the participants demonstrated a clearly expressed protest against the central government.

"We are not going to give up, we will resist and together, united, we will cope. But it is obvious that we cannot do it alone — we need the solidarity of the rest of Spain and we need the state to fulfill its duties. But we believe that this is how it will be," Vivas said the day before.

This time the rally took place on Constitution Square. At various moments, participants chanted the slogans "Sánchez, resign!", "Ceuta is Spain", "Deport the illegals!", and also waved the flags of Spain and Ceuta, with significantly more Spanish flags.

At the same time, the central government's delegate in Ceuta, Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano, decided not to attend the rally. In various regions of Spain, criticism is growing louder over what many consider the "abandonment" of the city by the central authorities.

"Ceuta is Spain," emphasized Chandiraman, head of Ceuta's Hindu community. "We defend our belonging to Spain on the basis of unity, peaceful coexistence and mutual respect," he added.

Despite the protest tone of the rally, it was attended by trade unions that support the government and are close to it.

Half an hour later, the rally moved to the building of the central government's delegation on the Plaza de los Reyes, where participants began shouting insults at Pérez Triano. About another hour later, the protest ended without incident — unlike the tense clashes that took place last week between counter-protesters and participants in other similar events.

On Saturday, the head of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, called the situation in the Spanish enclave "uncontrollable" and asked Madrid for additional resources to speed up the return of migrants. According to estimates by local authorities, at that time between 8,000 and 11,000 people remained in the enclave out of those who broke into the city on July 30.