Twenty-one migrants arrested after stones thrown at soldiers and Civil Guard in Spain’s Ceuta

Twenty-one Moroccan migrants were arrested in Ceuta after a military patrol and Civil Guard officers were allegedly pelted with stones. No injuries were reported.

The incident took place late Saturday near Trampolín beach, where hundreds of migrants have continued sleeping more than a month after nearly 80,000 people entered the Spanish city from Morocco. Police sources told EFE that the migrants had been fighting among themselves before throwing stones at the nearby military patrol. The Civil Guard intervened and its officers were also attacked.

The arrests come as Ceuta’s migration crisis remains unresolved. Most of those who crossed the border returned voluntarily in the following days, but thousands remain in the city. Some move through peripheral neighbourhoods, while others live in makeshift shelters on the beach with limited access to food and water.

The number still in Ceuta is disputed. The Spanish government puts it at 5,000, local authorities estimate nearly 9,000, and some nongovernmental organizations say as many as 20,000 people remain. Police have also placed 1,500 minors under the care of the Ceuta government.

The Spanish government signed an order on Saturday to take control of Ceuta’s port and authorize tents for more than 1,000 migrants across 16,000 square metres of public port land. Residents and business owners opposed the measure and demanded that the construction work stop. The Spanish Troop and Seaman Association said such incidents were recurring because the Civil Guard lacked sufficient authority to perform its work effectively.

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of the authority sufficient to be able to carry out its work in an effective and decisive manner