Ceuta Leader Says Up to 11,000 Migrants May Remain in City

Ceuta Mayor-President Juan Jesus Vivas urged the Spanish authorities to accelerate the return of migrants to Morocco, calling it the only way to resolve the "absolutely intolerable" situation

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MADRID, August 9. /TASS/. Between 8,000 and 11,000 migrants may still be in the Spanish autonomous city of Ceuta following a mass influx of irregular migrants in late July, Ceuta Mayor-President Juan Jesus Vivas said.

He urged the Spanish authorities to accelerate the return of migrants to Morocco, calling it the only way to resolve the "absolutely intolerable" situation. "Estimates put the figure at between 8,000 and 11,000 [migrants]," Vivas told Onda Cero radio. In his view, "the only way out is [returning them to] Morocco through the Tarajal border crossing."

In late July, tens of thousands of irregular migrants reached the autonomous Spanish city by swimming and on foot, bypassing the breakwater that separates it from Morocco. Madrid deployed military personnel to help provide security in Ceuta amid the crisis.

According to the Spanish government, about 72,000 migrants entered Ceuta, of whom around 70,000 have already returned to Morocco