Spanish government creates new migrant shelters to ease Ceuta crisis

Spain's National Police and Civil Guard launched a large-scale operation at El Trampolín beach in Ceuta on Thursday morning to voluntarily relocate migrants to reception centres set up in army tents.

The government earlier announced it had created the new temporary shelters for some 1,800 illegal migrants in its North African enclave to ease the humanitarian crisis there.

They are among the thousands, including unaccompanied minors, who remain in the territory after about 72,000 people breached Spain’s border with Morocco at the end of July.

Some 70,000 have since returned but the remaining people are struggling to access food, water, shelter and sanitation while the tiny city's resources are overwhelmed.

Many have spent the past three weeks sleeping on the streets or on the beach, with NGOs warning that women and girls are particularly vulnerable.

People living on the beach say they have resorted to building makeshift shelters out of branches and discarded materials to cope with high temperatures during the day and cold at night.

The number of places in the new temporary accommodation is expected to increase as the other facilities currently being set up are completed.

This emergency plan was developed alongside local non-profit organisations to help the territory cope with the exceptional crisis.

Since the large-scale arrival began, local leaders and neighbourhood groups have expressed growing concern over the living conditions of migrants.

Residents of Ceuta have complained about insecurity and hygiene problems linked to the homeless people sleeping on the streets and the impact this has on local businesses.

The migrants' future has sparked a political battle between Spain's leftist central government and regions governed by the main conservative Popular Party and far-right Vox parties.