Thousands of protesters have spilled onto the streets of cities across Spain amid fury at Pedro Sanchez’s handling of the Ceuta migrant catastrophe.
Demonstrations were held across the country on Wednesday, with protesters calling on the Spanish Prime Minister to resign over his response to the crisis.
The rallies were called by a host of city councils across Spain, as well as opposition parties Partido Popular (PP) and Vox.
More than 50,000 people attended the demonstration in Madrid, where PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo addressed the crowds.
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He said: “A Spanish city has been invaded, occupied and, unfortunately, this happened with the knowledge of the Government of Spain.”
Meanwhile, Vox leader Santiago Abascal accused Mr Sanchez of being “at the service, like a lackey, of the Moroccan regime”.
The protests come after more than 72,000 people stormed the border of the North African enclave from Morocco last month, with local residents branding the influx “an invasion”.
Although the majority of the migrants have since been returned, thousands remain in the enclave in makeshift camps, some of which have been torched by furious locals as unrest grips the territory.
Opposition parties have accused the socialist leader of abandoning residents of Ceuta, where sexual assaults have reportedly been occurring daily since the influx.
Almost daily protests have been taking place in Ceuta, with another demonstration organised in the enclave on Wednesday as rallies spread across Spain.
Locals could be heard chanting “Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta must be defended” as they marched through the streets.
On Wednesday, a report compiled by Spanish police accused Moroccan authorities of showing “total permissiveness” as hordes of migrants stormed the border.
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Mr Sanchez had previously insisted that officials in the North African country were not to blame for the unprecedented influx.
The Spanish Government approved plans earlier this year to give legal status to half a million undocumented migrants.
Mr Sanchez said in April that the plan was both “an act of justice” and a necessity for the country.
Amid the widespread demonstrations, Spain’s far-left Government has accused its critics of exploiting the crisis for their own political benefit.
Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres told radio station RNE: “This is not about defending Ceuta and the Ceutans, it is about attacking the Government.”
Counter-protesters also attended rallies in several Spanish cities, with left-wing demonstrators condemning what they claimed were “racist and Islamophobic persecutions and attacks” against migrants who broke into Ceuta.
As protesters spilled onto the streets, Donald Trump warned that “Spain will be a failing country” and branded the scenes in Ceuta an “outrage” in an exclusive interview with GB News.
The US President also said Britain was facing its own migrant crisis, although one less visible than the influx seen in Ceuta.
“Hopefully other countries like the UK – where you have your own problems – but it’s not as visible as that,” the President said.
“You know, you don’t have thousands of people just bum rushing your country. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
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