Shots fired in air in Ceuta to disperse protest against NGO Negu Gorriak
The National Police fired shots in the air at Ceuta Port to disperse demonstrators who surrounded and jostled the car of a local congresswoman.
Tension at Ceuta Port: shots in the air and congresswoman's car attacked
The National Police fired shots in the air on Sunday afternoon at Ceuta Port to contain demonstrators who jostled the vehicle of a deputy in the local Assembly, according to lavanguardia.com. The incidents occurred during a gathering of residents against the arrival of the Pamplona-based association Negu Gorriak/Derecho a Techo.
Around fifty people gathered from 18.45 hours at the exit to vehicles at the Port, through which the Navarrese group was expected to arrive in a van, as the organisation itself had announced days earlier on its social networks.
The car of Julia Ferreras, surrounded and jostled
After 20.15 hours, several demonstrators stopped the passage of a vehicle whose co-driver, according to accounts from some of those present, began filming them and mocking them. The gathered crowd threw eggs at the car and jostled it, which forced the officers deployed in the area to intervene immediately.
The driver turned out to be Julia Ferreras, a deputy in the Ceuta Assembly for the localist group Ceuta Ya!, accompanied by Gaza Flotilla activist Rafael Borrego. The leader of the party, Mohamed Mustafa, confirmed the identity of the occupants through his social networks and reported that Ferreras went to the police station to file a complaint about the events.
Riot police and clashes
The incident raised tensions and led to clashes between demonstrators and officers. When reinforcements arrived, riot police fired shots in the air. The gathered crowd responded to the action by shouting at the police: "Go to the Trampoline!".
The residents expressed their rejection of the collective's visit. "We don't want radicals here. Nobody needs to come here to take charge of migrants—that is the responsibility of the city government and the national government," declared one of the participants. Another attendee invited members of the organisation to take their humanitarian aid to Morocco, where "it is more needed".
The visit of Negu Gorriak/Derecho a Techo
The Navarrese association announced the previous Friday that it would travel to Ceuta with humanitarian aid and with the aim of "putting their bodies as a shield against the unprecedented violence that refugee people are suffering", in reference to migrants in irregular situations present in the city since the mass influx.
The collective maintains that the living conditions of migrants in Ceuta "worsen in parallel with the treatment received by police and the military" and denounces what it describes as a "highly militarised zone", as well as alleged "racist and fascist attacks" and violent actions by the State Security Forces and Bodies. In their announcement on social networks, the group stated that they would bring "disobedience" and "resistance".
Their messages generated rejection among Ceuta society, which began to spread posters calling on citizens to gather against their arrival. The residents aimed to "throw them out", as, according to what they pointed out, they had previously done with far-right groups such as Núcleo Nacional or the movement linked to Alvise Pérez, which arrived in the city more than a month before.
Source: Google News ES — Crime (es)