The Spanish North African exclave of Ceuta endured another chaotic night into early morning after an avalanche of invading migrants still in the city rushed a new “temporary” seaside shelter.
In recent days, the Spanish socialist central government has continued its plans to establish new “temporary” migrant shelters all over Ceuta, with reports indicating that the administration of socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez aims to reach a 10,000 bed capacity across all centers for the thousands of illegal migrants that are still in the city following the late July invasion of the exclave.
As part of broader plans, the Spanish government took control of the Port of Ceuta earlier this month and began preparing a new migrant shelter facility near the port’s west pier. Nearby residents and workers have protested against the center, with locals and law enforcement officials deeming the shelter to be a significant security risk and a violation of existing critical infrastructure security regulations.
The Civil Guard watches over migrants for their transfer to the Port of Ceuta, on 18 September, 2026 in Ceuta, Spain. (Gabriela Sarda Nuñez/Europa Press via Getty Images)
The opening of the center was reportedly described as “imminent” by local outlets earlier this week.
Spain’s Unified Police Union (SUP) filed a motion before the National Court seeking to halt the opening of the center. While the court ruled on Wednesday to temporarily suspend the opening, it surprisingly rescinded the suspension just a day later. Hours after the ruling was issued, Spanish authorities immediately began to transfer migrants who remain in shanty makeshift tents at the Benítez and Trampolín beaches into the center, just as the Spanish government originally planned.
The transfer, however, was far from orderly, leading to a swarm of migrants rushing their way into the migrant shelter at the port. The local outlet El Faro de Ceuta published footage of the chaotic events on social media.
Per El Faro, the chaos extended in the following hours as local law enforcement attempted to gain relative control of the situation, with some semblance of a tense sense organization being achieved before the migrant transfer resumed moments after sunrise.
However, tensions arose again shortly afterwards.
Warning shots fired by the police can be heard in additional footage published by the outlet on Friday morning.
Despite a unspecified amount of invading migrants being transferred to the new shelter at the port of Ceuta, the situation at the Benítez and Trampolín beaches reportedly remains “the same,” with a significantly large number of migrants and ramshackle tents still present at the invaded beaches as of Friday morning. Tensions and altercations, including physical ones, have been reported at Benítez in recent hours as Spanish authorities begin admitting the first group of migrants into the new “temporary” shelter facility.
Condemnation and rejection of the chaotic events have begun to arise in recent hours. On Friday noon, the Spanish Police Confederation (CEP) reportedly called for the resignation of Ceuta’s top police chief, accusing him of carrying out the transfer process without all the adequate security measures, and holding him responsible for the chaotic events experienced earlier that day.