Ceuta residents ‘sad, helpless, anxious’ as up to 5,000 migrants remain in the city, president says – Europe live

Over in Brussels, Ceuta’s conservative president Juan Jesús Vivas is briefing European lawmakers on the situation in the city in the aftermath of last week’s migration crisis with Morocco.

He tells MEPs that the incident amount to “an invasion” defined as “an anomalous or ir regulation occupation of a specific place.”

He says 3,000 to 5,000 people migrants of the 80,000 who he says crossed the border still remain in the city, which “in no way allows us to say that our city has returned to normal.”

“We have a situation where the influx has led to a humanitarian emergency of enormous proportions, compounded by disturbances to public order and a high risk to public safety.”

He warns lawmakers that “our people feel sad, helpless, anxious, fearful and worried, and they have good reason to, because it is inevitable to wonder whether this will happen again at some point.”

Vivas also says that “it has become evident” that “our security and integrity are in the hands of a third country, Morocco, that does not recognise our sovereignty.”

He calls upon Spanish national authorities to “adopt whatever measures necessary to restore the normality,” including “immediate expulsion” of all people who crossed the border irregularly.

He also laments the death of some 100 people who died during the crisis.