Spanish authorities dismantled the largest migrant encampments in occupied Ceuta on Sunday, Spanish news agency EFE reported.
The report said the dismantling of the encampments aims to allow Spanish authorities to identify people who have remained on the streets of the occupied city since July, when one of the largest irregular migration crossings took place.
Over 70,000 migrants entered the enclave in the mass crossing, triggering heightened tensions between Rabat and Madrid amid a smear campaign by the PP and the far-right, which weaponized the situation to target the Sanchez government ahead of the next elections.
EFE said police in the city launched a “clearing” operation targeting encampments housing large numbers of migrants at different sites, with the city’s government deploying over 350 police officers.
The report said police took the migrants to the temporary foreigners reception center for police processing before transferring them to facilities provided by the Ministry of Inclusion.
The migration crisis continues to make headlines and prompt a wave of reports, with Spanish media expressing frustration over the Moroccan government’s silence, especially following King Felipe’s controversial visits to the occupied cities of Melilla and Ceuta last week.
Moroccan media’s use of the term “occupied” for the cities of Ceuta and Melilla also raised eyebrows among media outlets, including EFE, which noted the use of similar terminology in the Moroccan media landscape amid “low-profile” coverage of King Felipe’s visit.
The dismantling of the migrant camps also comes amid disturbing reports of abuse and mistreatment in shelters hosting migrants, especially those who entered the occupied city in July.
An alarming transcript of a recording obtained by Spanish news outlet El Diario features a group of soldiers who said they enjoyed themselves while beating migrants, especially when they did not wear gloves.
The report includes a transcript of a conversation between a group of soldiers on duty as they carried out one of their surveillance shifts at a fixed post in the city on September 21-22.
One exchange in the recordings features a uniformed soldier who said he tends to approach migrants who move backward to avoid being assaulted.
“I’m going to try to slap him, and he’ll move backward. And I said, how am I supposed to get closer?… And I tell him, ‘Take that,’” the soldier said, boasting about slapping migrants.
The accounts also feature soldiers sarcastically commenting on the victims’ abuse, with a third soldier alleging that the migrants “seem to ask” to be beaten.
One soldier also recalled witnessing another military unit saying they “enjoy” themselves as they put migrants “on tests” to make them “beat each other,” describing the situation as something out of the horror movie “Saw.”
