Spain’s prime minister said the crisis was largely over, but a radio interview forced him to face reality

Spanish police fired warning shots on Monday morning as officers tried to clear several thousand young men from a camp in a parking area near Ceuta’s central hospital.

The confrontation was far from the first involving authorities and migrants in the Spanish enclave in North Africa. It came after more than 70,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta about a month earlier.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had assured the public that the crisis was largely over. In a radio interview on Monday, however, he acknowledged that far more migrants remained in the enclave than he had previously indicated.

The unrest in Ceuta continues, exposing the gap between the government’s earlier assurances and the situation on the ground.