The National Police has begun this Sunday the transfer of more than 800 migrants who were sleeping outdoors in the surroundings of Loma Colmenar to the new temporary facility set up by the Government in Los Rosales, in the neighborhood of La Reina de Ceuta. The operation started around seven in the morning and required walking approximately one and a half kilometers to the new site, made up of several tents aimed at preventing hundreds of people from continuing to spend the night on the street.
Sources from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration estimate 864 people for this first transfer, while the Government Delegation has explained that the new resource is built on a plot owned by SEPES ceded by the Ministry of Housing. The movement is being carried out voluntarily and, according to the authorities, without significant incidents.
Confusion upon waking and a walk through Ceuta
The arrival of the agents early in the morning initially caused moments of confusion among those sleeping outside Loma Colmenar. Many had been waiting for days for a spot to become available in one of the reception facilities and, when awakened and asked to gather their belongings, some initially feared they would be transferred to Morocco.
The situation began to normalize when they realized that the destination was an official facility within Ceuta. The migrants gathered their belongings and began to walk in groups towards Los Rosales, following the Police's instructions, forming long lines through the streets of the city. Upon their arrival at the tents, applause erupted among some of those transferred, after weeks in which many of them had slept outdoors.
The settlement of Loma Colmenar was one of the largest that emerged in Ceuta during the last few weeks. EFE points out that the immediate goal of the transfer is precisely to get those who remained waiting for a spot in the resources provided by the Administration off the street.
About 860 spots in the new tents
The installation of Los Rosales has, in this first phase, capacity for around 860 people and is located next to the old prison, in a peripheral area of the La Reina neighborhood. The Government has enabled it as a temporary resource within the response to the migratory pressure that the autonomous city has been experiencing since the end of July.
The Executive is working in parallel on other spaces. Among them is a new resource in the Port of Ceuta with a planned capacity for about 1,700 people, which would help alleviate the situation of other improvised settlements, especially those that have arisen around the beaches of Trampolín and Benítez.
Protests due to proximity to a nursery school
The opening of Los Rosales has not been without controversy. Neighbors in the area have staged several protests in recent weeks against the installation of the resource due, mainly, to its proximity to a nursery school. Construction continued despite the mobilizations, and this Sunday it has already begun to receive its first occupants.
The protests are framed in a climate of growing tension in some peripheral neighborhoods of Ceuta, where different neighborhood groups have demanded that reception resources not be concentrated near residential areas. On September 7, residents of several neighborhoods —including Los Rosales, Loma Colmenar, Príncipe Alfonso, and Tarajal— participated in a joint mobilization against the situation generated by the improvised settlements.
The Government tries to reduce improvised settlements
The opening of the new center is part of a broader device with which the Government aims to increase the available places, expedite the identification of migrants, and reduce the improvised camps that have spread across different points in the city.
The Interior Ministry has reinforced the triage system in recent weeks with new police lines and personnel from the General Directorate of International Protection to identify the arriving people, study possible asylum requests, and process the corresponding files.
While these procedures advance, the lack of sufficient places has forced hundreds of people to sleep in streets, beaches, or settlements built with improvised materials. Recently, around a hundred shelters made of reeds, cardboard, and wood had been counted in the Benítez beach area.
A morning of relocation for hundreds of people
The operation this Sunday represents one of the most important collective movements carried out so far within Ceuta since the current migratory pressure began. More than 800 people have left the vicinity of Loma Colmenar and are being progressively housed in the new tents of Los Rosales, with the immediate goal of stopping them from sleeping outdoors.
The relocation continues while the Government prepares new spaces and tries to gain accommodation capacity in a city where existing resources remain under enormous pressure. The image of the morning has been that of long lines of migrants walking through the streets of Ceuta with their belongings towards a facility that, after weeks of construction and protests, has finally started to operate.