Spanish police tore down makeshift shelters used by migrants near Benítez beach in Ceuta on Sunday, clearing an encampment beside the city’s desalination plant.
Footage shows officers pulling apart makeshift shacks and removing materials from the settlement, with police deployed across the area as migrants were moved away.
Spain’s National Police said around 350 officers were involved in Sunday’s operation. Migrants living beside the desalination facility and nearby breakwater were being moved provisionally to an area known as El Guano.
Authorities said the clearance was intended to reduce risks to migrants living among concrete blocks close to the sea, while protecting access to the desalination plant.
Ceuta’s government had earlier called for the settlement to be urgently removed, citing security concerns around infrastructure crucial to the city’s drinking water supply.
The operation follows repeated attempts to move thousands of migrants from makeshift settlements on Ceuta’s beaches into temporary accommodation.
On September 18, migrants were moved from Benítez and El Trampolín beaches towards a temporary reception facility at the port, with space for around 1,700 people. Thousands remained without accommodation or returned to the beaches after the facility filled up.
The pressure on accommodation followed a mass movement of migrants into Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco in late July. Authorities have since been expanding reception capacity while clearing informal settlements across the Spanish territory on the North African coast.
Source: Viory
