Thousands of migrants have charged through the streets of Ceuta, the North African enclave of Spain, as police attempted to move them to a new camp. The Mail has more.
This is the moment thousands of migrants ran through the streets of the North African enclave of Ceuta as authorities tried to move them to a new tent camp.
Spanish police today began relocating the migrants, who have been living for weeks on the beach in Ceuta, to its port area.
In the move officers struggled to contain the crowds jostling to secure a spot at the new tented site. Authorities say there are enough tents for 1,700 people.
Video footage shows people charging through the streets towards the new camp, cheering and shouting.
According to local reports, the National Police and Riot Control Unit were forced to intervene, reportedly using tear gas to stop the chaos.
It comes after tens of thousands of migrants flooded across the border from Morocco in late July.
Although most returned, around 13,000 have remained, with many now sleeping rough on the territory’s beaches.
Police started rounding up the migrants at 6.30am according to a Spanish government source in Ceuta. The tent city in the port has showers and beds, the source added.
The Spanish government went ahead with the transfer despite opposition from the conservative local authority.
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez has faced strong criticism over the handling of the crisis. But he has insisted his government had not mishandled the crisis, instead saying authorities simply could not cope with the influx.
Speaking to Left-leaning television programme El Intermedio on September 14, Mr Sanchez admitted authorities had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of arrivals.
He said the government hoped to have the situation under control by the end of the year and appealed for patience from residents of Ceuta, which has a population of around 84,000.
The PM also faced questions over what his government knew before the influx. Officials initially maintained they had received no warning, with the government delegation in Ceuta saying on August 25 that it had no information about what would happen on July 30.
But the government later released 40 previously classified communications showing Spain’s National Intelligence Centre (CNI) had warned on July 29 of organised attempts to enter Ceuta by land and sea.
One communication referred to a social media call for an attempted mass crossing the following evening, while the CNI also alerted Moroccan intelligence.
Mr Sanchez rejected suggestions that the messages amounted to a formal warning of what was about to unfold.
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Expect this soon enough in the UK
They must be expelled. Morroco is a safe country where Europeans go for holidays. It must be acknowledged that this is an invasion. They are all men of fighting age and Islam is intent on taking back Spain.
How is this being allowed?
Coming to a street near you.
Soon
My thought exactly.