Some 200 residents of Ceuta donned Guy Fawkes masks to stage a silent protest on Thursday night, demanding solutions for the city’s numerous problems and a return to normalcy after three months have passed since the mass illegal migrant invasion of the Spanish North African exclave.
Thursday’s peculiar demonstration, rallied under the slogan “Ceuta won’t be silenced, the silence of thousands cannot be censored,” began at around 08:00 p.m. (local time) at the city’s Square of the Kings.
The peaceful event saw a majority of its participants wear Guy Fawkes masks — commonly known as the “V for Vendetta” mask in reference to the eponymous graphic novel by British author Alan Moore and its 2005 movie adaption.
El Faro de Ceuta reports that the silent protest was organized by representatives of different civil society organizations, who donned the masks as a way to rally in the defense and support of their city “without party acronyms or flags.”
The protest’s organizers reportedly argued that they saw the need for a different approach and appeal to the “collective conscious through silence” after numerous peaceful demonstrations and protests have taken place in Ceuta and mainland Spain in the three months since tens of thousands of illegal migrants coming from neighboring Morocco invaded its territory.
While the event took place on November 5 — the same day as the anniversary of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot in Britain — the organizers affirmed that the use of the V for Vendetta mark aimed to unite the protesters regardless of age or background.
“This isn’t about hiding anything, quite the opposite. It’s about all of us coming together as one, united by a common cause, which is Ceuta,” one of the organizers reportedly told El Pueblo de Ceuta, stressing the meaning behind the Guy Fawkes masks was to represent all of Ceuta’s citizens under a single identity.
Footage of the silent protest published on social media by El Pueblo de Ceuta shows some of the protesters holding Spanish and Ceuta flags.
Banners with messages condemning socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez as “Corrupt” are also seen.
El Faro de Ceuta detailed that a manifesto was read addressed to those who “take decisions hundreds of kilometers away without ever setting foot on our streets.” Through the text, the participants declared that Ceuta is not a “bargaining chip,” but rather, a historic city of men and women who demand “exactly the same respect, the same future, and the same certainty” as any other Spaniard.
Immediately after the silent protest ended, a separate, equally peaceful but boisterous demonstration took place at the same square. The second protest, El Faro explained, was organized by Renace Ceuta (“Ceuta is Reborn”), a civil society organization that has held weekly protests against the migrant invasion.
The protest, which marked the 14th week of the migrant invasion, had been cancelled last week out of respect for the victims of the October 28 deadly train accident in Urda, Toledo.
Gema Sánchez, a representative of Renace Ceuta, read a new manifesto from the organization denouncing that the reality of the city has not changed in the 14 weeks after the invasion, which continues to face “unsustainable pressure” in its streets.
The organization demanded respect for the city’s sovereignty, real guarantees for the city’s security, and “courageous decisions,” rejecting what the group described as “more unfulfilled promises and empty words” as the migrant invasion continues to incur in significant consequences for the deteriorated livelihood of Ceuta’s residents.
