Migration | “Mass deportations are underway right now”

Refugees in Ceuta regularly experience harassment by the police. Photo: AFP/THOMAS COEX No Name Kitchen has been active in Ceuta for more than five years. How did you experience July 30th and 31st, when thousands tried to cross the border into Ceuta?

The first few days were very chaotic. In all the neighborhoods near the border, including where our house was, the water was turned off and the shops were closed. So there was no access to food or water. The first thing we organized was food. We still prepare more than 1,000 portions every day.

Many people living in Ceuta have experienced these days as threatening. What would you say to them?

I think living in Ceuta must be really hard, not only because of the events of July 30th. I understand why people were very afraid. From what I see now, two months later, the city has still not met the needs of the People on the Move. Many people are still on the streets, and they are not just Moroccan men, but also very small children, many minors, women, members of the LGBTQ+ community. And when the official authorities take care of things, they do so in a military way: they simply deploy a lot of the army and police.

No Name Kitchen has been feeding refugees in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta for five years. This is not without danger, as Andrea García reports in an interview with Alieren Renkliöz. Members of their initiative are not only criminalized by the police, but also attacked by right-wing extremists. Her name has been changed for the purposes of the interview to avoid putting her in additional danger.

Many people only heard about Ceuta when they crossed the border this year. What is characteristic of the city?

Ceuta has always been a hotspot for migration. The city has been part of Spain for hundreds of years. Since Spain's accession to the EU, the border with Morocco has also been the border between Africa and the European Union. There were repeated mass border crossings. That's why there were massacres in Ceuta, such as the one in Tarajal in 2014 (around 300 people tried to get to Ceuta. The police intervened and killed at least 15 people, editor's note). The difference from other places is that you don't see any big boats here. People overcome the fence or swim across. That's why Ceuta isn't as present in the media. This city is an exclave. On one side the sea, on the other a ten meter high fence. And it is an exception in the Schengen area, because anyone who wants to go from Ceuta to the mainland has to show their papers. That's why people are stuck here. It's an open-air prison.

Are some migrants thinking about returning?

We now see that the strategy is to get people to a point where they can no longer tolerate the situation. They beat them every day, drive them from their sleeping places, wake them up at night just to wear them down. The beach was full of people. In the last few days the police came and put many of them on big buses and told them they were going to centers. But then they took them to the border and said: Either you leave on your own or we will give you an order that you are not allowed to enter Europe for five years. That's why many go back. They say this is a voluntary return, but we know it is not voluntary. Yesterday someone said to me: I would rather die here than go back to Morocco.

Your initiative documents violence at the borders in Eastern Europe. Do you do the same in Ceuta?

Yes, we try every day. We collect witness statements. Whenever we find out something is happening, we go and film it. But the scale is really big. Every time you step outside someone tells you that they were beaten by the military. I believe that anyone who has slept on the streets has suffered some form of violence.

Which case that you documented stands out in your mind?

There was this boy, 15 years old, an unaccompanied minor. He had a head injury that was treated with metal staples. Army members had beaten them. He said it happened at four in the morning. The military often beats people when they are sleeping. We organized with him to have the metal stitches removed in the hospital. After a week, when we went to see him, he told us on the phone that he had been deported that night. He wrote to me that he still had the brackets in his head. He was deported without reason, even though he is a minor.

And you took photos of the injuries?

Yes, we have. We also have a legal team that supports some cases.

Are there still pushbacks in Ceuta?

Yes, migrants are deported without any procedure. We saw a lot of pushback. Police cars that people are put into at night and taken to the border. Mass deportations are underway right now. When they cleared Playa del Trampolín, a beach where around 3,000 people were previously staying, they brought people to the border. We saw how that happened. The people who were pushed straight off the beach were given an explanation of what was happening in three minutes. How are you supposed to explain in three minutes how international protection works, how asylum works, what will happen to you? According to newspaper reports, around 1,000 people left Ceuta within a few days. We wonder whether this is really voluntary.

No Name Kitchen complains that its own work is being criminalized. What exactly do you mean by that?

A few weeks ago the army was constantly following us. Soldiers searched us and checked our IDs at every activity. There were false reports that we were handing out pepper spray and Molotov cocktails to the People on the Move, which was absolutely not true. Soldiers always wanted to find something at our distributions, but we had nothing with us except water, food and first aid bags. We had to bring the food from our camp into the house to cook. But a military transport truck stayed right in front of our front door for hours and we couldn't get out. He was just standing there to stop us.

No, criminalization is now also becoming financial. They fine us for every reason they can find. Because of the car, because we park incorrectly or because we distribute food where we shouldn't. We kept asking the police where we should distribute food. We don't want to cause chaos, we want to help. Sometimes we are also threatened by right-wing extremist groups. That's why it's difficult to even find places to serve food.

How do the police react when you film the harassment?

Last month, when the police were taking people from the beach to a new center, we filmed it. The Guardia Civil came and started searching us, quite upset. One of our volunteers also filmed this situation to have evidence in case something happens. The cell phone was then taken away from her very roughly. But that doesn't happen every time we film. However, our ID details were leaked after the police discovered our personal details. That was a serious attack for us.

They ended up in right-wing extremist groups from Spain and Ceuta. You could also see this in the Instagram reels of some Spanish influencers. One day someone sent me an Instagram story that showed my face with the phrase, "They're the ones who give out pepper spray." Another time someone told me I was in a video made by a fascist from Spain. Many people made videos of us and shared them too.

We have taken some precautions because we are staying here. We think that everything we do is legal and we stand in solidarity with these people. It's terrible, but we get used to it. We get yelled at almost every day in the city. You can imagine: If they treat us like that, how do they treat the People on the Move on the streets? It just worries me that this no longer happens in secret. The treatment in the hospital was really hard. We volunteers who accompanied the People on the Move had to wait in other places, not where Spaniards or people from Ceuta could wait. And they shouted at us there too.

I think all of this underlines that the violence is now systematic. Yes, it's an emergency, it's a crisis. But after two months there is still no other answer than to build a few camps. In addition to all the criminalization and threats, there are also many people who stand by our side in solidarity and help. And I want to remember the strength and networks that People on the Move are building here. They still find solutions every day to resist and try to achieve their dream and continue their journey.

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