Hundreds of migrants who stormed the Spanish exclave of Ceuta staged a protest on Sunday, demanding that the Spanish government grant them immediate asylum benefits including food, shelter, medical treatment, and the freedom to travel to mainland Spain and beyond, according to Spanish media reports.
The protest, involving roughly 200 migrants from the larger group encamped at El Trampolín beach — now littered with more than 80 makeshift shelters built from garbage — was marked by cardboard signs and Spanish flags, with chants of “Asylum” and “What do we want? Asylum,” footage published by Spanish outlets showed.
Most of the migrants are Moroccan and Sub-Saharan nationals who have said they do not want to return to their countries of origin, and instead are seeking asylum protections in Spain as well as the opportunity to move onward to mainland Europe.
NGOs Accused of Helping Organize Protest
The public broadcaster RTVE reported that some non-governmental organizations providing assistance to the migrants “helped several of them create and write the signs later displayed during the gathering, in addition to encouraging and cheering on the protest.”
The local outlet El Faro de Ceuta reported that the protest began after an unspecified number of Moroccan nationals had their asylum requests denied at temporary migrant shelters. The migrants attempted to march toward downtown Ceuta, but their efforts were contained by military officials.
Dispute Over Migrant Numbers
The protest comes amid a widening public disagreement between Spain’s central government and Ceuta’s local leadership over exactly how many migrants remain in the exclave following the mass incursion in late July.
Last week, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska insisted that about 5,000 migrants remained in Ceuta. But the president of Ceuta’s local government, Juan Jesús Vivas, has rejected that figure, saying his office estimates roughly 10,000 migrants are still there.
A report published last week by the Spanish newspaper El País, citing unnamed Spanish government sources, indicated that more than 5,000 migrants in Ceuta could be eligible for asylum or other forms of protection under Spanish law.
Conflicting Responses to Asylum Claims
Marlaska and other Spanish government officials have affirmed over the past days that all of the migrants who stormed Ceuta will be “sent back.” But Vivas, as head of the local government, has gone further, urgently demanding that any asylum or similar migrant benefit provisions be suspended in Ceuta entirely, and calling for all migrants to leave the exclave as soon as possible.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Vivas stressed his urgent requests, saying, “There is risk that something irreversible happens.”
However, the Spanish judiciary appears to be taking a different stance. Europapress reports that Spanish magistrates and judicial groups are rejecting mass asylum refusals, instead calling for all migrants who invaded Ceuta and are now seeking asylum to have their requests reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
The standoff highlights the growing tensions between Madrid and Ceuta’s local authorities, as well as the legal and humanitarian challenges posed by the large number of migrants now in the exclave. The protest on Sunday underscores that many of those who remain are determined to press their claims for asylum, setting up a potential clash with the central government’s stated policy of sending them back.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2026/08/17/ceuta-crisis-hundreds-of-illegal-migrants-demand-asylum-benefits/