The Spanish Interior Ministry has ordered the Unidad de Prevención y Respuesta (UPR) from Extremadura’s National Police headquarters to reinforce Ceuta’s frontier for an initial 15-day stint starting next Wednesday. Regional Delegate José Luis Quintana confirmed the move on 24 September after consultations with the crisis coordination cell in Madrid. The additional officers will join colleagues from Andalusia and Valencia already stationed along the Tarajal and Benzú sectors, bringing the temporary deployment to roughly 450 agents. Their brief includes crowd control, document screening and support for the Guardia Civil’s maritime patrols in the Strait of Gibraltar. Interior officials say the reinforcement should allow local police to rotate shifts exhausted by nearly two months of elevated alert. Business chambers in Ceuta welcomed the decision, noting that recent street protests and ad-hoc roadblocks had disrupted supply deliveries to the city’s free-port warehouses. Companies sending personnel or cargo through Ceuta’s port or heliport should expect tighter document checks and occasional traffic diversions around the frontier perimeter. Mobility managers should ensure drivers carry stamped manifests and employees have soft copies of residence permits to speed passage. The ministry will review the deployment mid-October; an extension would require fresh budget authorisation, signalling that high-intensity policing could become the new normal for Spain’s North-African enclaves.
Source: Canal Extremadura
