The association Mujeres Caballas has announced for next Saturday, November 21, a new demonstration in Ceuta to demand from the Government measures that would make it possible to restore normality in the autonomous city following the massive entry of more than 80,000 people from Morocco on July 30 and 31, since, in their view, the decisions adopted to date are “steps backwards.”
“Far from improving the situation, what we see is that there is a lot of slackness and neglect,” Maxi Lacasa, an officer of the Local Police in Ceuta and spokesperson for Mujeres Caballas, explained to Europa Press. The march will depart at 12:00 from the Murallas Reales and will end at the Plaza de los Reyes.
The platform already organized a mobilization in Madrid last October 25 to which, according to the Delegation of the Government, some 30,000 people attended, and at which the Ceutan president, Juan Jesús Vivas, was present. The protest ended in front of the Congress of Deputies, where the organizers read out a manifesto in which they gave the Executive a period of 30 days to adopt measures in the city.
With this new call, Mujeres Caballas intends to show that, contrary to what was demanded on October 25, during this month the steps “have been taken backwards.” In addition, Lacasa has said that the group “is working” to hold meetings in Brussels with European officials between November 23 and 25.
Criticism of the reduction in security and the state of the border
Regarding the current situation, Lacasa has emphasized that the Government has withdrawn from Ceuta personnel from the State Security Forces and Corps in order to reinforce other areas where disturbances have occurred in the last few weekends.
She has also mentioned a “military de-escalation” that has caused “hardly” to be seen “personnel on the streets.” According to Mujeres Caballas, security on the border between Spain and Morocco is now limited to “a broken containment buoy” and “a single Civil Guard officer in sight.”
On the other hand, the spokesperson has denounced that “it is not being returned” to the people who have been identified, and that many neighbors have the feeling that “Ceuta is a large CETI.” For this reason, the group encourages that on the 21st all Ceutans mobilize and that citizens from other parts of Spain also join in.
"We want people to come. We have the businesses sunk and we need them to come. That same day there will be concerts for Santa Cecilia and a half marathon. The mere fact that they move here is already very significant," Lacasa has reiterated.