This Sunday afternoon, agents of the National Police have fired several shots into the air in Ceuta during a protest called by residents against the arrival of the Pamplona association Negu Gorriak/Derecho a Techo, whose members have been labeled as "radicals," "pro-ETA," and accused of coming to "break the coexistence."
Around fifty people gathered after 6:45 PM at the vehicle exit of the Port of Ceuta, the point where the Navarre group was expected to arrive by van, as they had announced days earlier on their social media.
At around 8:15 PM, some of the attendees blocked the advance of a car whose co-pilot, according to some protesters, began recording them with a mobile phone and mocking them.
Several participants in the concentration reacted by throwing eggs at the vehicle and shaking it, which forced a rapid intervention by the agents deployed in the area.
The driver of the car turned out to be the deputy of the Ceuta Assembly for the localist group Ceuta Ya!, Julia Ferreras. The leader of the formation, Mohamed Mustafa, confirmed it on his social media and indicated that Ferreras has already gone to the police station to file a complaint about the events.
This incident has significantly raised tensions and led to scuffles between protesters and police forces. With the arrival of reinforcements, the riot police fired shots into the air. Some of the Ceutans present responded by shouting at the agents, "Go to the Trampolín!"
The association Negu Gorriak/Derecho a Techo had communicated last Friday its intention to travel to Ceuta with humanitarian aid and with the main objective of "putting their bodies as a shield against the unprecedented violence that refugees are suffering."
The residents gathered to wait for the Navarre group expressed their rejection of "radicals" coming to the city to increase tension.
"We don't want radicals here. No one needs to come to take care of the migrants; the city and national government take care of that," stated one of the attendees.
Another present urged the members of the entity to direct their solidarity work towards Morocco, where, in his opinion, "they need it more." "They have plans that are incompatible with the coexistence we have here in Ceuta," he added.
In the announcement disseminated on social networks about their trip to Ceuta, the Pamplona collective committed to bringing "disobedience" and "resistance" against the supposed violence that, they claim, the Security Forces and the Army exercise against the "refugees," a term they use to refer to irregular migrants who remain in the city after the massive entry.
The organization denounces that the living conditions of migrants in Ceuta "worsen in parallel to the treatment received by the police and the army" and criticizes what it describes as a "highly militarized zone," as well as alleged "racist and fascist attacks" and a disproportionate use of force by the State Security Forces and Corps.
These messages have generated strong rejection in broad sectors of Ceuta society, which since learning of their arrival began to distribute posters calling for a concentration against their visit. The declared objective was to "throw them out," in the same way that, they recall, happened with far-right groups like Núcleo Nacional or Alvise Pérez, who traveled to the city more than a month ago.