Solidarity Armada sails to Ceuta with 50 boats in support amid migration crisis

A flotilla of around 50 vessels from the Costa del Sol and other Spanish ports set sail on Saturday for Ceuta to show their support for the city after the migratory crisis that has been unfolding since the end of July, according to local media.

The initiative, dubbed the Fleet of Solidarity with Ceuta, brings together around 120 participants under the slogan "We are all Ceuta, Spain responds as one". The organisers have arranged up to 60 free berths in the city's harbour for the participating boats.

The vessels have not departed as a single convoy, with each skipper leaving from their home port to cross the Strait of Gibraltar independently bound for Ceuta, where the participants have various activities planned over the weekend.

The call went out after the mass arrival of migrants in Ceuta on 30 and 31 July, when tens of thousands of people crossed irregularly from Morocco into the autonomous city, in one of the episodes of greatest migratory pressure seen on the border in recent years.

Once in Ceuta, the participants will take a guided tour of the city and attend a dinner at the Yacht Club. On Sunday the vessels are expected to undertake a trip through the waters surrounding the autonomous city.

Later, the boats from mainland Spain and those based in Ceuta will gather in the southern bay to send a message of unity "between Spaniards on both sides of the Strait", according to the programme for the initiative.

A weekend with no demonstrations expected

Ceuta faces a weekend with no new demonstrations planned, after several days of protests over the presence of thousands of migrants who entered the city on 30 July.

The latest rally on Friday brought together hundreds of residents on Trampolín beach, where they demanded the return of the migrants to Morocco and the clearance of the camp set up next to the Temporary Stay Centre for Immigrants (CETI), which remains overcrowded. The protests have been organised mainly through groups on social media.

For now, there are no new calls for protests this weekend, although local sources warn that they could take place at any time. On 2 September a demonstration is scheduled, organised jointly by the Provincial Federation of Neighbours' Associations (FPAV) and the association Foro Ceuta Siglo XXI.