They harass a Red Cross employee after …

The arrival of more than eight thousand Moroccan and sub-Saharan migrants –among them, thousands of miners – in the city of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco, sounded the alarm not only for humanitarian organizations but also for parties of the Spanish far right.

On foot, along the fence that separates Spain and Morocco, or by swimming to avoid being arrested, thousands of migrants have arrived, mostly Moroccans and also sub-Saharan Africans who have traveled long distances. distances to reach El Tarajal beach. At that time, they experienced moments of extreme tension and also of humanism, like the one made by a diver from the Civil Guard, Juan Francisco Valle placeholder image, who saved a baby from the Mediterranean Sea. Or the humanitarian gesture of Luna reyes, a Red Cross agent who helped a young Senegalese who arrived in visibly fragile condition at El Tarajal beach in Ceuta.

In the images broadcast by the newspaper The country From Spain, we see the young man faint on the sand, his feet still in the sea. The civil guard relieves him and Reyes arrives there to help the young Senegalese.“There was a time when he started hitting the stones on his head because he saw that they were making them all.”Reyes told Spanish public television.

Reyes offers him water and kisses the young migrant as he cries in the rescuer’s arms. “A desperate boy thinking his friend was dying, just arrived, having spent swimming, crying uncontrollably all the time and hugging me, he just cried (…) hugging me was like his lifeline for him “

However, soon after, the 20-year-old was forced to shut down her social media after receiving hundreds of messages laden with racism, xenophobia and male chauvinism. The Spanish Red Cross defended the rescuer. “We are an organization in which many moons help people like those who come to Ceuta daily,” they posted on Twitter.

The anti-migrant right

Valle and Reyes showed the human side of a diplomatic conflict that Spanish far-right parties like Vox are trying to use in their favor. Santiago abascal landed this week in Ceuta with a discourse that criminalizes migrants who risk their lives in search of opportunities. “The Spaniards who saw their city invaded, their way of life, their security and their freedom threatened (…) We are with you”, wrote Abascal on his Twitter account.

Following a diplomatic conflict between Spain and Morocco, the Moroccan authorities relaxed border controls. Within hours, thousands of people came to walk or swim in the city of Ceuta. Mothers and fathers also arrived who approached the border gates to hear their children. Ufa arrived urgently from Tangier, a Moroccan town located about 50 kilometers west of Ceuta. To her relief, she found her son, although she also expressed that she hoped he had crossed the border.

Expulsion of minors

Mohamed, 17, left his studies, his family and went to the border. “I have no future here. I want to work to help my family “said of Castillejos, a Moroccan city located near the border. Like Mohamed, thousands of minors have arrived in the area near El Tarajal, most of them from poor families and often working to survive.

On Thursday, the Spanish Interior Ministry reported that at least 4,800 migrants, including 1,500 minors, had been expelled since Monday. “His deportation by Spain is contrary to international treaties relating to the rights of the child”, says Omar Naji, a Moroccan human rights activist. “The Moroccan authorities have involved them to put pressure on Spain for political ends,” he condemns at the same time.

Currently, some 850 minors remain in Ceuta awaiting procedures from Spanish authorities who, in some cases, to determine the age of migrants, perform a wrist bone test and an oral x-ray. 200 of these minors are expected to be sent to other Spanish cities as the boys have been living in Ceuta for several months, the Spanish government reported.

Thursday afternoonand 1,500 people were sent back to their commune of origin, according to an AFP journalist from Ceuta. The arrival of migrants stopped although in the afternoon the police a corpse floating on the beach of El Tarajal, the second death since the crisis began last Monday.

While in Melilla, the second of the Spanish enclaves in Morocco, located about 200 kilometers south of Ceuta, a hundred migrants tried to jump the fence border, according to local authorities.