Guy
Hedgecoe

Print and broadcast journalist

Behind Spain’s news

Spain’s African enclaves seek to maintain harmony in face of far right

Apr 1, 2019

Vox expected to perform well in elections in Ceuta and Melilla on anti-immigrant platform

April 1st, 2019. Published by The Irish Times.

In Ceuta’s bustling commercial centre, large panels on the pavement advertise the fact that the local Burger King’s meals contain halal meat. This meeting of Western and Islamic values is just one of many ways in which the city’s ethnic and cultural mix makes it stand out from the rest of Spain.

Although it is a Spanish territory Ceuta is perched on the North African coast, separated from Morocco only by a six-metre-high border fence. Ceuta and its sister city Melilla along the Mediterranean coast have Europe’s only land borders with Africa.

“Ceuta has a great deal of cultural diversity,” says Mohamed Alí, spokesman for the Caballas political party, which represents many Muslims in the city. “Some of us want to deepen that multiculturalism and respect for plurality.” (See article)

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