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Brahim, between his two friends, could claim half a victory this week.
'I hope when they get their residency papers, they won't forget me'

'I hope when they get their residency papers, they won't forget me'

One of the thousands of Moroccans who swam around rocks to reach Ceuta this week, tells his story

F. TORRES / J. CANO

Friday, 21 May 2021, 09:46

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Brahim was walking between two friends. He was one of the few with a new face mask, which he lowered to speak and to smoke. On his shoulders was a bag full of personal effects: trainers, flippers, clothes... his face showing the signs of a bittersweet triumph. He had to return, but his wife and three-year-old daughter could stay in Spain. At least for the moment. "I hope that when they get their residency papers, they won't forget me," he said, speaking in Darija, a Moroccan dialect of Arabic.

Brahim (not his real name) was speaking through a Spanish solider who was acting as interpreter. He told us that they got up the courage to cross over when they heard that the Moroccan border patrols had decided to turn a blind eye. They made it by swimming, skirting the sea barriers at Tarajal beach, the main border point into Ceuta from Morocco.

"They said that there were people here waiting to take care of us and we decided to go for it, but it's not how they told us it was going to be. My wife and daughter have stayed with the Red Cross, that's fine. But I've go to go back, there's nothing that can be done."

At seven in the evening, as he walked back to the border with Morocco, a young group of his fellow citizens were holding out on some rocks a few metres off the beach. It was the last stage of a swim that started on Moroccan soil. . "Jump, go for it...this is pointless...you have to go back," a Spanish solider explained to them.

The sea border at Tarajal beach consists of two rocky spits jutting out into the water. Both are capped with barbed wire. The longer one belongs to Morocco and the second one, 200 metres on, belongs to Spain. In the early part of this week, that side was surrounded by Spanish troops, including the Legion, and tanks. And emergency workers, including the Red Cross - all dealing with cases of hypothermia, shock and, in some instances, people who could barely swim carrying babies.

In the streets of Ceuta small groups of people walked around aimlessly - mostly really young, carrying possessions. Some wore Madrid or Barça shirts, or even the Spanish national team colours.

In response most shops in Ceuta closed on Monday and Tuesday and many parents did not send their children to school.

Volunteers from the Red Cross and other charities worked with the security services to find and tend to the recent arrivals in their midst.

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