Spanish riot police have fired tear gas and rubber projectiles at demonstrators outside the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, closing a day of nationwide protests over the migration crisis in Ceuta.
No such equipment was used at El Tarajal on July 30, when about 72,000 people walked and swam into the enclave. The Guardia Civil said at the time that it had been overwhelmed.
The clashes broke out late on September 2 as a rally called by Ceuta residents living in the capital came to an end. Officers moved in after a group of protesters began throwing objects at police lines.
The Spanish Government’s delegation in Madrid said four people had been arrested for public disorder and assault on authority, two of them minors. Four National Police officers were hurt, three slightly and a fourth left awaiting medical assessment.
Members of Núcleo Nacional, a right-wing group, had joined the gathering. Racist chanting was reported and journalists working for State broadcaster TVE and the private channel La Sexta were harassed and in some cases assaulted.
At the border five weeks earlier, armoured vehicles were positioned at the exit from the breakwater to channel arrivals towards an industrial estate rather than turn them back. Moroccan auxiliary forces withdrew as the crowds advanced and no document checks were applied.
Officers went days without operational instructions, according to Jupol, the largest National Police union, and the Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC). Both have demanded clear protocols and permanent reinforcements from Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
Jucil, the largest Civil Guard association, called the July entry an orchestrated invasion and asked for the minister to go. Jucil and Jupol both backed the September 2 rallies, describing them as civic, peaceful and non-party.
The AUGC has pointed to the Tarajal disaster of February 2014, when 15 migrants drowned during a crossing in which the Guardia Civil used rubber balls and smoke canisters. Sixteen officers were placed under investigation over the operation and the case was eventually shelved.
The association says that case left border officers without legal certainty. It has asked for 40 more riot officers, on top of the 60 posted to the city since the crossings.
The disorder in Madrid overshadowed an otherwise peaceful day. More than 260 municipalities called people onto the streets for Ceuta Day, with about 50,000 at Plaza de Cibeles, where Popular Party (PP) leader Alberto Núñez Feijoo and Vox leader Santiago Abascal both appeared.
Thousands more marched in Ceuta itself, a city of about 84,000 people. Reuters reported chants of “Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta must be defended”.
In Brussels, MEPs held their own rally outside the European Parliament the same day in support of the enclave.
