Thousands of people gathered in Ceuta on Sunday in a major demonstration calling for an urgent response to the autonomous city’s migration crisis, with organisers urging unity while demanding stronger support from Spain’s central government.
The rally, held under the slogan ‘Enough is enough. Ceuta will not surrender’, was organised jointly by the enclave’s four main religious communities – Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu – and centred on Plaza de la Constitución.
Attendance figures varied significantly, with organisers estimating that more than 10,000 people took part, while Spain’s National Police put the turnout at just over 5,000.
Ceuta’s autonomous government said the event was intended to send a message of ‘unity, coexistence and defence of Ceuta at a particularly delicate moment’, following the unprecedented influx of migrants who crossed illegally from neighbouring Morocco on 30 July. ALSO READ: Guardia Civil say online campaign points to another possible Ceuta crossing on 15 August.
President of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, joined the demonstration and described the situation facing the city as ‘absolutely unsustainable’.
‘Here there is a people of great dignity, who today have demonstrated in a spontaneous and civic manner,’ he said.
Vivas insisted that the city would not give up despite the crisis.
‘We are not going to surrender. We are going to resist and together, united, we will move forward. But it is obvious that we cannot do it alone. We need solidarity from the rest of Spain and for the State to fulfil its obligations, and we trust that it will.’
The regional leader had appealed the previous day for residents to attend the demonstration regardless of political affiliation, stressing that it was intended to rise above party politics.
‘This is not anyone’s gathering. It is not a gathering by any political party. It is not a gathering to benefit anyone in particular,’ Vivas said. ‘It is a call to make clear that Ceuta will not give in, that Ceuta will move forward.’
He also urged residents to preserve the city’s tradition of coexistence, arguing that maintaining unity was essential as Ceuta dealt with one of the most serious crises in its recent history.
The demonstration came after the city government renewed calls for Madrid to reinforce border security, increase police resources and provide solutions for the thousands of migrants who remain in Ceuta following the mass crossing from Morocco. ALSO READ: EU backs Spain after Ceuta migration crisis while ministers push for tougher anti-smuggling measures.
More than 72,000 people are reported to have entered the city illegally during the crisis, which has been linked to 141 deaths. ALSO READ: Spain installs sea barrier as Ceuta slowly returns to normality and death toll rises.
One of the central moments of Sunday’s gathering was the reading of a joint manifesto by Ramesh Chandiramani, president of Ceuta’s Hindu Community, speaking on behalf of the enclave’s four religious groups.
‘Ceuta is Spain,’ he declared, describing the city as a place built by people of different religions, cultures and backgrounds. ‘We defend our Spanish identity through unity, coexistence and mutual respect.’
The manifesto described the current situation as ‘extraordinarily critical’, stating that Ceuta had suffered ‘a violation of territorial integrity’, and called on the Spanish authorities to deliver an ‘immediate, decisive and proportionate’ response. ALSO READ: Spanish court opens security inquiry into Ceuta mass crossing as Morocco cites trafficking networks and false rumours.
Although organisers repeatedly emphasised unity, the demonstration also reflected growing public frustration with the central government. ALSO READ: Sánchez condemns mass Ceuta crossing as ‘violation of Spain’s territorial integrity’.
The government’s representative in Ceuta, Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano, did not attend the protest, with sections of the crowd calling for his resignation. Protesters were also heard chanting ‘Pedro Sánchez, resign’, alongside slogans including ‘Ceuta is Spain’, ‘Ceuta is not for sale’ and ‘Expel illegal migrants’, while many waved Spanish and Ceuta flags. ALSO READ: Ceuta crisis sparks emergency EU meeting requests as Sánchez rejects Schengen criticism.
Some demonstrators later marched towards the Government Delegation building, while tensions briefly flared in Plaza de los Reyes after the arrival of far-right activist Vito Quiles, with some people accusing him of trying to exploit the situation and divide residents.
Trade unions UGT Ceuta and CCOO also backed the demonstration, although both stressed the need for institutional solutions rather than leaving the burden solely on local residents.
UGT said Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government must provide Ceuta with the resources required to deal with emergencies of this scale, while praising the work of the police, security forces and public services during the crisis.
CCOO similarly argued that resolving the situation required the involvement of all levels of government and could not rest exclusively on the people of Ceuta.
Speaking on Saturday, Vivas had noted that the current crisis had come just five years after the mass border crossing of May 2021, when around 8,000 migrants entered the city.
According to the Ceuta president, the fact that Spain had experienced two major border crises within such a short period showed that the central government ‘has stumbled twice on the same stone’.
He argued that Spain must now review border security arrangements to ensure effective control of the frontier, while reaffirming that his administration would continue to show ‘institutional loyalty’ and a ‘sense of state’.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian response has focused increasingly on the large number of unaccompanied migrant children in the city.
Spain’s Minister for Youth and Children, Sira Rego, travelled to Ceuta on Saturday for talks with Vivas, with the government confirming that 1,342 unaccompanied minors have so far been identified, although registration is still continuing. ALSO READ: Spain accelerates plans to redistribute unaccompanied migrant children from Ceuta.
Following the meeting, Vivas maintained that returning the minors to Morocco remained the only viable long-term solution. ‘The only way out is Morocco via the Tarajal border crossing,’ he said.
Rego, however, stressed that every child’s circumstances must be assessed individually. She defended family reunification ‘whenever possible’, while noting that ‘many of the unaccompanied migrant boys and girls do not have families, so in these cases the autonomous communities must act as their guardians and guarantee their rights’.
The minister pledged that the Spanish government would deploy ‘all the necessary resources’ to support Ceuta, including financial, technical and human assistance, with a specialist team already sent to the city to help coordinate reception efforts.
The issue is expected to dominate discussions at Spain’s Sectoral Commission on Children and Adolescents on 13 August, where the redistribution of unaccompanied minors from Ceuta to other regions will be debated.
The far-right Vox party has already announced that its regional vice-presidents responsible for the area in Castilla y León, Extremadura and Aragón will boycott the meeting, reiterating the party’s opposition to relocating the children under the slogan ‘children with their families’.
The crisis has also sparked wider political tensions beyond Ceuta. Spain recently reintroduced temporary border checks at ports and airports for travellers arriving from Italy after Rome refused to lift restrictions it had imposed on passengers arriving from Spain following the events in Ceuta. ALSO READ: Spain imposes reciprocal border checks on Italy as Schengen dispute escalates.
Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso of the right-wing opposition People’s Party (PP) criticised the move, saying: ‘We let more than 70,000 people enter illegally through Ceuta alone and we ban Italians from entering, a brother country that invests in and contributes to Spain.’
‘It’s spectacular, this turning our backs on the West,’ she added.
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Miles de ceutíes salen a la calle al grito de “Basta ya: Ceuta no se rinde”https://t.co/xJW8x6Jx8m pic.twitter.com/EfEGgerFcL
— EFE Noticias (@EFEnoticias) August 9, 2026
Miles de personas salen a la calle en Ceuta para exigir una solución al Gobierno central https://t.co/N1CqOU61k5 pic.twitter.com/wCooQT02JP
— Telediarios de TVE (@telediario_tve) August 10, 2026
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