Hundreds of residents of Ceuta, fed up with the unresolved migrant invasion of their city, have spent several nights protesting, tearing down migrant tent encampments, and even engaging in tense standoffs with authorities and pro-migrant helpers.
The north-African Spanish exclave of Ceuta has been the scene of fierce protests from hundreds of residents of Ceuta over several nights this week, who have taken to the streets to demand solutions to the worsening insecurity, health, and overall deterioration of their previously peaceful lives caused by the thousands of illegal migrants that are still said to be dwelling through Ceuta following the massive late July invasion of the city. Per Spanish outlets, this week’s wave of protests erupted after it was reported locally that Spain’s socialist central government drafted plans to utilize sports centres and other public areas to “temporarily” house migrants.
For a third night on Thursday into Friday morning locals protested, including a sit-in blockade of a road leading to a beach where migrants have made a camp — defying somewhat the official position of the Spanish government that the controversial migrant surge has been turned around and dispersed — in a bid to prevent the Red Cross from delivering meals to the illegals staying there. The Benitéz beach is less than a mile away from other beaches featuring new migrant camps that have seen spirited counter-protests by locals through this week.
Per reports in local media, flag-waving Spaniards stood in the path of a large Red Cross truck. Police placed themselves between the locals and the NGO workers, who eventually had to give up on delivering food to the beach to sustain the migrant encampment. Footage from the protest saw residents of Ceuta — or Caballas, as they like to call themselves — chanting messages including that pro-migrant NGOs like the Red Cross are a “mafia”, that the left-wing Spanish Prime Minister is a “bitch”, and that “Ceuta will never be defeated”.
The situation became more agitated as the evening went on, with police in riot gear charging protesters, and several migrant tents and shelters on Benitéz beach burnt out.
CEUTA, SPAIN – AUGUST 27: Several people during a demonstration to protest against the situation caused by the mass arrival of migrants, on 27 August, 2026 in Ceuta, Spain. The demonstrators have attempted to prevent Red Cross volunteers from distributing food parcels to migrants on Trampolin beach and have caused disturbances on Benitez de Cueta beach, which have resulted in police charges, after they forced their way into the migrant settlements where people were spending the night and caused damage, including the burning of personal belongings. (Photo By Marcos Moreno/Europa Press via Getty Images)
The lively happenings of Thursday followed other such protests earlier in the week. On Wednesday Caballas peacefully marched through the streets of the exclave wielding flags and demanding the expulsion of all remaining invading migrants. The protesters exclaimed chants against the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — whom they once again called a “Son of a bitch.”
While the protesters reportedly remained peaceful throughout the afternoon hours of Wednesday, El Mundo and El Español both detailed that tensions arose close to midnight when a hardcore group of between 200 to 300 protesters arrived at El Trampolín beach and began tearing down a migrant tent city.
Per El Espańol, some of the protesters at the beach shouted “out, invaders,” and “this is our beach” while others tore down the tents and threw some of the migrants’ belongings to the sea. Local police officers arrived to the scene, placing themselves in between the protesters and the main migrant encampment area at the beach to disperse the protesters quell the tense situation.
El Español published footage of Wednesday night’s protests and the tense situation at el Trampolín. The footage also shows a group of protesters clapping and chanting insults towards a row of migrant tents at the beach.
“We have tore down everything, everything, look, we have tore it down,” an unidentified man is heard saying in a clip shared by El Faro de Ceuta on social media.
Many of the protesters have stressed to Spanish outlets over the past days that they feel “abandoned” by Spain’s central government’s response to the crisis — sentiments that have been exacerbated over the government’s plans to setup new migrant shelters in the city. While the plans have been scaled down by the Spanish government in response to the backslash and Ceuta’s sports centres may be spared, it appears that the change has done little to placate the protesters’ indignation.
“They’ve taken away our beaches, destroyed our schools, and now they want to give them the sports centres? Enough is enough,” a man identified by El Español as Alfonso, said during Wednesday’s protest.
África Cortés, a Ceuta resident and mother of two sons, affirmed to El Español that she has never seen anything like the events of the past days. She reportedly emphasized that there is “no turning back” and that civilian pressure will continue until “all migrants are expelled from Ceuta” and the city “returns to normalcy” after the past tumultuous weeks.
Additional footage of Wednesday night’s protests published by El Faro de Ceuta shows the marching protesters exclaim “A Caballa never gives up.” The protesters also exclaimed “Don’t look at us, join us” to fellow Ceuta residents as they passed through the streets of the city — before repeatedly chanting “invaders, expulsion.”
“Ceuta is not a CETI,” the protesters also chanted. CETI stands for Centro de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes, or Center for Temporary Stay of Immigrants.
As Breitbart News reported last week, recent attempts to dismantle the migrant camp at the beach by Spanish law enforcement have been largely unsuccessful, as migrants have simply returned to El Trampolín hours later.
In addition to the tense late Wednesday night events at El Trampolín beach, El Faro de Ceuta reports that a Spanish military vehicle was ambushed by a group of about 40 migrants as it passed through the small Ceuta settlement of Benzú during the early morning hours of Thursday.
The migrants threw stones at the vehicle after it passed a stoplight and reached a control point, forcing the military officials to abandon the vehicle and flee on foot. At least four soldiers were injured.
El Faro further reported that, as of Thursday morning, twelve of the migrants involved in the ambush have been detained by the local police. Per the outlet, all of the detained individuals are Moroccan nationals between the ages of 35 and 40. Some of the detained migrants reportedly jumped into the sea in an attempt to escape from the police.