The Court of First Instance No. 5 in Ceuta has begun the trial of two Ceuta police officers, accused of abuse of power, after they were seen abusing three women living in the city, one of whom was a minor, with dual Moroccan and Spanish nationality, during their celebration of the Moroccan national team’s victory over Portugal in the World Cup semi-final last December.

The court decided to send the two officers to trial on the basis of the results of the investigation, which it said it had opened about two months ago, immediately after cameras filmed Spanish police officers abusing fans who had gathered in one of Ceuta’s squares carrying Moroccan flags to celebrate the Moroccan national team’s qualification for the World Cup semi-finals for the first time in its history, on 10 December 2022.

The Spanish public prosecutor’s office asked that one of the following police officers be required to pay compensation to the victims, an officer of the rapid intervention unit, because of his “excesses” in the use of the authority granted to him, after he was filmed by cameras beating the complainants with a truncheon, while the defence of the two police officers considered that it was a matter of “self-defence” and the use of force “within the limits of the law”.

The court summoned 3 policemen for the trial, one of them as a witness, who stated that they were to give instructions to the rapid intervention elements to clear “La Constitution” square of about 50 people who were celebrating Morocco’s victory in the World Cup, in order to allow regular traffic, but the revellers verbally attacked them and chanted aggressive phrases.

The police admitted using their truncheons against two women and a minor girl, arguing that they prevented their officers from carrying out identification procedures on a man who was documenting their actions with a mobile phone, considering that the use of blows was a “last resort” and was used in a “proportionate manner and in accordance with the protocols regulating the use of blows”, with the strikes being directed at the area of the buttocks and thighs.

As the case became a matter of public opinion due to the targeting of women carrying Moroccan flags in the heart of Ceuta, the victims’ defence filed a complaint with the Spanish prosecutor in charge of violence against women, which led to the opening of a judicial investigation and the summoning of the police officers appearing in the video to listen to them.

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Just one week after dismantling an illegal camp sheltering over 2000 migrants near Paris, French police cleared another makeshift camp accommodating more than 500 migrants.

The camp had been set up by volunteers at La Place de la République on Monday night, and quickly attracted homeless migrants the majority of whom were Afghans. One hour later, the police intervened to clear the encampment stating that it was an “illegal occupation of public space.”

“Today an encampment was installed illegally in Paris’s Place de la Republique square. Police immediately proceeded with the evacuation of this illegal occupation of public space,” Paris police tweeted.

The outraged crowd and volunteers joined arms and chanted in one voice “papers for all, accommodation for all!”

Pictures and videos were posted on social media showing police officers picking and confiscating tents with people still inside them. The police, then, used tear gas to disperse the crowd, and hit others using batons while chasing them through the streets.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin expressed his shock over the violent dispersion of the camp. “Some of the images of the dispersion of the illegal migrant camp at Place de la République are shocking,”

The French association Utopia56 denounced the violence employed in the clearance of the camp and demanded  “the resignation of the Police Commissioner and the Interior Minister, the immediate cessation of police violence as well as unconditional solutions of accommodation”

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