At the entrances to Plaza de África, officers asked at least one would-be attendee about her political views, according to Carmen, a resident of central Ceuta. She said officers refused her entry after she answered that she did not support Vito Quiles. His appearance on Friday, 6 November 2026, lasted about 15 minutes, with a few dozen supporters and around 100 uniformed officers in the security operation. Local estimates of the crowd ranged from about 50 people to around 100.
Residents were struck by the scale of the deployment: several central streets were closed, including Jáudenes and Sánchez Prados; Independencia was also closed. Dozens of riot-control vans were positioned nearby. El Pueblo de Ceuta reported that road closures and police presence were visible from midday. Organisers delayed the start while Quiles waited inside the Parador for more than half an hour. His speech lasted under 10 minutes. He then gave the microphone to Juan Ruiz, a Ceuta influencer whose videos from the Trampolín and Benítez areas became widely known after the migration crisis. Ruiz was described as a local content creator accompanying Quiles. The event was part of Quiles’s “Mafia o Patria” tour.
Police controlled access at every entrance to the square amid a call for an antifascist counter-demonstration. El Faro de Ceuta reported that a Muslim-community counter-mobilization was scheduled for 4 p.m., ahead of Quiles’s announced 6 p.m. appearance. The elDiario.es report said officers used political symbols and a person’s appearance to decide who could enter. Residents and activists said people who appeared racialized or Muslim were among those turned away, while Quiles’s supporters got through. One young resident told elDiario.es that Muslim friends who opposed Quiles’s visit had been denied access.
Activist Hanan Alcalde made a similar allegation in a video posted on Instagram, saying racialized and Muslim residents had been prevented from entering. She also included the account of a Muslim woman who said she could not access the square. In a city where Muslims make up about half the population, the reported screening affected residents seeking access to a public space as well as those attending the political event. Migration remains a prominent issue in Ceuta: Global Sisters Report, citing Ceuta president Juan Jesús Vivas, reported that an estimated 13,000 migrants were in the city by mid-September, either without legal status or in reception facilities. That figure was about 16% of the city’s registered population.
Quiles said during his speech that he had no problem with any religion and opposed only what he called “the invaders”. In August, residents had expelled him from one of the demonstrations held in Ceuta after the migration crisis; he described them as “radicales islamistas”. Teleceuta described his 2 August 2026 visit as involving heckling and verbal confrontations, followed by incidents during the return ferry journey. He also suggested that the police operation was responsible for the low turnout.
Hours later, Quiles posted a video from a private boat with a large beer bottle in his hand. He claimed he was escaping Ceuta’s Moroccans after they had supposedly organized to attack him on the ferry. The claim did not match any official information cited in the report, and no disturbances were reported after the speech. Teleceuta said the 6 November gathering passed without serious incidents. RUSSPAIN has separately covered a Tenerife home shooting.
Carmen had worn a beige trench coat and carried Ceuta’s and Spain’s flags in an effort to pass the screening. She also brought a placard calling for coexistence and opposing racism. After officers lifted the cordon, she returned to the square, where a small group of Quiles’s supporters remained.
