CEUTA RESIDENTS DEMOLISH RECEPTION CAMPS

CEUTA, AUGUST 27 /SRNA/ - Residents of the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa demolished makeshift shelters for migrants, and police attempted to disperse protesters with rubber bullets, Russia Today reported.

Several hundred Ceuta residents took to the streets in the largest protest yet against the arrival of migrants in the city, citing a rise in crime, threats to people and their property, deteriorating sanitary conditions, and the authorities’ failure to take concrete steps to address these problems.

Thousands of migrants remain in the enclave nearly a month after a record mass crossing from neighbouring Morocco, with many seeking asylum in the EU.

The crisis erupted in late July, when 72,000 people crossed or attempted to cross into Ceuta, many of them swimming around the border barriers.

Most were returned, but Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said that around 5,000 migrants remained in the enclave.