Spanish police have removed the last major migrant camp in Ceuta just days before King Felipe and Queen Letizia are due to visit the North African enclave.
The camp sprang up after a mass influx of more than 70,000 people travelled across the border from neighbouring Morocco into the Spanish territory on July 30 and 31.
Although most returned within days, at least 10,000 remained in Ceuta, sleeping rough in the streets or on beaches and straining the small city’s resources.
The sudden influx, during which scores of people died, sparked alarm across the European Union and triggered a political crisis in Madrid.
Spanish police and soldiers arrived shortly after 8am on Sunday at the El Guano esplanade, where hundreds of migrants had been camping in makeshift shelters following earlier clearances of settlements on nearby beaches.
Migrants were put on buses and taken to reception centres for police processing, while cleaning crews moved in to clear the esplanade and beach.
Some migrants fled into nearby hills to avoid being put on buses.
More than 350 police officers from various units were involved, the interior ministry said in a statement, adding it was the fifth such operation in Ceuta in recent weeks ‘aimed at clearing public areas of the city’.
A migrant gestures as Spanish authorities clear out El Guano camp in Ceuta on October 11
Soldiers equipped with riot gear stand in front of military strucks as police also stand guard
Migrants await removal by Spanish police from the temporary makeshift El Guano camp near the Trampolin beach
A police officer seals off the area as authorities clear out the migrant camp on Sunday
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are due to visit Ceuta on Tuesday – but their exact plans in the North African enclave are unknown
It comes ahead of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia’s scheduled trip to Ceuta on Tuesday, which has been coordinated with the government.
The royal visit to Ceuta, followed by a trip to Melilla on October 14, will be the first by a Spanish monarch to the two cities since King Juan Carlos travelled there in November 2007, sparking a diplomatic crisis with Morocco.
The king and queen’s exact plans are not yet known.
Morocco claims sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s two North African enclaves.
The opposition has accused socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez’s government of reacting too slowly to the migrant crisis in Ceuta.
Last Sunday, Spanish police cleared thousands of migrants from a camp in the North African enclave.
Around 3,000 migrants were moved from Trampolin beach, where they were living in tents and makeshift homes for two months, to temporary accommodation.
