POLICE AND MILITARY DISMANTLE CAMP IN CEUTA

MADRID, OCTOBER 5 /SRNA/ - Spanish police, assisted by the military, cleared a migrant camp in Ceuta on Monday, removing around 3,000 migrants who had been living there since late July.

According to Spanish daily El Faro, all migrants staying in makeshift shelters on Trampolín beach were removed.

"The migrants were taken by bus to the Tarajal border crossing, where they were given the choice of voluntarily returning to Morocco or registering in order to be accommodated in a tent camp. Many do not want to register or go to the camps because they fear this would make it easier to deport them to Morocco," Spanish broadcaster RTVE reported.

The migrants believe that collecting their biometric data would make them easier to identify and that, if they manage to reach mainland Spain or another EU member state, they could be deported either to their country of origin or to the country where they were first registered.

RTVE reported that 600 Moroccans voluntarily left Ceuta on the first day of the operation to clear the camp, while around 3,500 fled into nearby forests on the second day.

The Spanish Government said that as many as 80,000 migrants arrived in Ceuta from Morocco on July 30 and 31. Most were returned, but several thousand remained in the Spanish enclave.