Ceuta's last major migrant camp cleared before royal visit

Spanish authorities cleared Ceuta's last major migrant encampment on Sunday, two days before King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are scheduled to visit the Spanish North African territory, AFP reporters at the scene and Spain's interior ministry said.

Police backed by soldiers arrived shortly after 8:00 am at the El Guano esplanade, where hundreds of migrants had been sleeping in makeshift shelters after earlier clearances of nearby beach settlements. Migrants were put on buses and taken to reception centres for police processing, while cleaning crews cleared the esplanade and beach. Some migrants fled into nearby hills to avoid the buses.

The interior ministry said more than 350 police officers from several units took part. It said the operation was the fifth in Ceuta in recent weeks aimed at clearing public areas of the city.

The camp emerged after more than 70,000 people entered Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco on July 30 and 31. Most returned to Morocco within days, but thousands remained in Ceuta, sleeping rough on streets or beaches. Scores of people died during the influx, which caused alarm in the European Union and a political crisis in Madrid.

The royal trip is due to start in Ceuta on Tuesday and be followed by a visit to Melilla on October 14. If it goes ahead, it will be the first visit by a Spanish monarch to the two cities since King Juan Carlos travelled there in November 2007, a trip that sparked a diplomatic crisis with Morocco. Morocco claims sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla.

Spain's opposition has accused Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government of reacting too slowly to the migrant crisis in Ceuta.