Ceuta overwhelmed: 200 emergency reports daily and residents afraid to leave home
The National Police in Ceuta have registered more than 200 emergency calls per day following the mass arrival of migrants. Residents and hospitality business owners report robberies, assaults and intimidation.
Ceuta on alert: robberies, assaults and a police force stretched to breaking point
At 9 a.m. on Saturday, 22 August, a 20-year-old woman was walking alone to work in the area between Morro and Miramar Bajo in Ceuta. A man followed her silently through the empty streets. When he drew close enough, he demanded her bag. She refused. The attacker drew a knife. "Give it to me or I'll kill you right now," he told her. With no alternative, the victim handed over her bag containing money, documents and her passport. She even attempted to convince him by speaking to him in Arabic, without success.
After the robbery, the young woman screamed for help. A neighbour came out and followed the suspected attacker, but failed to locate him. "I am terrified to leave home since the robbery. It's a trauma. I will never forget it," she told newspaper El Faro.
According to reports on elespanol.com, that incident is one of many cases linked to migrants recorded on the same day in the autonomous city.
200 daily calls, compared with the usual 20 or 30
Javier Otero, spokesperson for the National Police Union (Jupol), points out that since the mass arrival of more than 80,000 immigrants, more than 200 daily calls are being registered to report security situations. "Normally we receive 20 or 30 calls in a day, if it's a weekend that increases, but what we are experiencing now is overwhelming," says Otero.
Jupol has repeatedly warned that officers are stretched and that urgent reinforcements are needed. Some agents are working shifts of up to 16 hours, sleeping in Army barracks and, according to the union, receive no real support from the Interior Ministry.
A Civil Guard officer beaten in the early hours
Around 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, 23 August, a Civil Guard officer was attacked on Cañonero Dato Avenue by a group of at least five people of Moroccan nationality. When he refused to hand over money, the attackers punched him repeatedly in the face and kicked him before fleeing towards the port area. A patrol from the sector later located those responsible, hiding in some stairs connecting the roundabout on Avenida de España with the Junta de Obras del Puerto neighbourhood. Three Moroccan nationals were arrested.
"An arrival of this magnitude without sufficient control ends up creating serious security problems," said the Unified Police Union (SUP). "We are not talking about a perception of insecurity, we are talking about facts," added the organisation, which warns that Ceuta cannot normalise robberies, brawls, sexual assaults or attacks on members of the Police and Security Forces.
Complaint rejected due to police saturation
In the early hours of Sunday, another incident occurred in the El Edén area. Three young women heading to the underground car park at that location were approached by a migrant. The attacker attempted to snatch the bag from one of them; the victim resisted and fell to the ground during the struggle. The man fled without getting the bag.
When the affected women attempted to file a complaint, the police response left them at a loss. "The Police tell me they won't take my complaint because they are very overwhelmed. We are tired of having to feel this way in our own city. Must we feel afraid simply going to our car?" one of them said.
"Fortunately he didn't manage to get it and we were able to react, but the fright, the helplessness and the feeling you are left with afterwards cannot be explained. My friend's arm is in a bad way," she added.
Hospitality business owners closing earlier and losing late-night customers
Insecurity has also transformed the city's nightlife. Gema Molina, owner of the El Capote restaurant, describes an unprecedented drop in customers. "Families are barely going out any more. My restaurant has been open for 15 years and we did not even have this kind of impact during the pandemic," she states.
Molina explains that customers sitting on the terrace at night are approached, accosted and intimidated by migrant individuals. "They come up to ask for money and when you don't give it to them, some become aggressive," she describes. According to her, the situation is widespread among hospitality businesses in the sector: through a group of hospitality owners, other restaurant owners have confirmed to her that they are experiencing the same thing. Establishments facing the seafront promenade are the most affected, where some migrants sleep on the street and leave bags containing faeces on the pavements.
Faced with this situation, many hospitality business owners have opted to close several hours earlier.
"We Ceuta residents are abandoned. They want to sell us the idea that this is not an invasion, but it is. Here we live in fear. We all know someone who has been a victim of harassment or some crime by them," Molina concludes.
No end date in sight
Both residents and police unions agree that the main concern is not just the current situation but the absence of a solution in the medium or long term. Jupol and their counterparts in the hospitality sector share that concern: no one knows when or how this will end.
Source: Google News ES — Crime (es)