Police moved into the Trampolín beach settlement in Ceuta as rain began at about 8:30am, beginning to clear a camp where nearly 3,000 people were initially reported to be living. The Jefatura Superior later put the population at more than 3,500. Earlier that morning, music played as residents woke up, while others sold goods.
Police began dismantling the site after more than two months of harsh living conditions. Authorities cited contaminated water and unsafe conditions as public health risks. EFE and Europa Press reported that the settlement had also become a sanitation and public-order concern.
The camp is being cleared in stages. Sunday's operation covers only the first phase, the Jefatura Superior said. The government has set 15 October as the deadline to complete the clearance, while the royal visit is scheduled for 13 October.
AFP reports that the trip will be the first visit by a reigning Spanish monarch to Ceuta since 2007. The immediate goal is to remove the tents and move residents into available facilities.
The first phase focuses on the part of Trampolín beside the desalination plant, known locally as the desalinizadora.
UIP units arrived from across Spain. Seville and Granada were among the locations sending officers; Málaga and other parts of the country also sent units. The UPR joined them, along with Information officers from Ceuta and elsewhere. Police closed every access route to stop people heading towards the hills and reduce the risk of clashes in or near the camp. A drone monitored the area, while vehicles brought from mainland Spain added to the deployment.
The security detail included two BMR armoured vehicles and a Vamtac S3 all-terrain vehicle. Local police announced traffic restrictions from about 7:30am on roads linking Benítez and Benzú. The first National Police van reached the site shortly afterwards, and the deployment began at about eight.
Some residents ran towards the hills as tension rose. Women and children were among those moved in the first phase, although most residents were men.
Europa Press and Telecinco reported that more than 30 police vans were deployed, including UIP units. Officers blocked access roads to limit movement towards the hills and reduce the risk of clashes. The operation came amid heightened tension after a migrant was detained the previous day following an alleged confrontation with officers involving large stones on Trampolín beach.
Officers went from tent to tent and then to makeshift shelters, telling residents they had to leave as the structures were removed. An interpreter gave instructions in Arabic about where people would be taken.
The first bus left shortly before 9am, Radio Televisión Ceuta reported. Those being transferred are taken to the CATE at El Tarajal, the Centro de Atención Temporal de Extranjeros, for initial screening and registration. Some may choose to return to their countries of origin. Several people displaced from Benítez did so earlier in the week.
Accommodation is the basic constraint. Loma Colmenar has space for more than 1,000 people, while the port has additional places. Even so, the shortage has already pushed people back towards the beaches. In mid-September, the port camp was planned to house 1,700 residents. More than 2,000 people were left outside and returned to the shoreline.
The two earlier operations in Benítez make Trampolín the third clearance effort in only a few weeks. Ceuta has seen this cycle before: clearance is followed by displacement.
More than 70,000 people arrived from Morocco at the end of July. Most were returned within hours. That movement, along with displaced residents repeatedly returning to the beaches, shows why removing tents alone cannot resolve the problem. The account of Madrid's camp offers another example of how quickly an improvised settlement can become a visible housing and public-order issue.
Ceuta's operation addresses an unsafe site with contaminated water, but the wider problem remains. Without enough places for everyone removed from the beach, the same cycle may continue. The shortage of accommodation is still unresolved.
