Residents Block Red Cross Aid, Storm and Burn Migrant Camp on Trampolín/Benítez Beach

Late Wednesday into Thursday, a demonstration that drew thousands of residents escalated into clashes after police fired tear gas to keep protesters from reaching migrants camped on the beach. Dozens of demonstrators then staged a two-hour-plus sit-in blocking a Red Cross truck from delivering food to the El Trampolín beach camp, carrying Spanish flags and chanting 'Out with the Red Cross' and 'Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta is defended.' Protesters subsequently broke through a police cordon at Benítez beach, stormed the informal camp and set fire to straw parasols migrants had been using as shelter; belongings burned as police charged to disperse the crowd. Ceuta's finance councillor, Kissy Chandiramani, said 'the tension in the city of Ceuta is very high' due to 'no response' from the national government, while NGO workers described the mood as a 'witch hunt against the migrant population' and a 'powder keg.'