Spanish Far-Right Leader Abascal Declared Unwelcome in Ceuta After Controversial Remarks

The initiative of the Movement for Dignity and Citizenship (MDyC) to declare Santiago Abascal persona non grata in Ceuta has received favorable echoes. The party obtained the support of the PSOE and the PP, which allowed the Assembly to adopt this resolution by a majority, reports Europa Press.

To read: Vox Leader’s Visit Sparks Protests in Spanish Enclave of Ceuta

The president of the Vox party was declared undesirable in Ceuta because he "came to our city to provoke the breakdown of coexistence, the pillar on which our society rests, and to vilify the inhabitants of Ceuta, some of the parties that represent them and the sovereign institutions that we have given ourselves," the Assembly said. "The defense of our Spanishness has neither political color nor belief; it is the common heritage of all the inhabitants of Ceuta: Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus. We are all of the same indivisible homeland," declared the president of the city, Juan Vivas (PP), during the parliamentary debate.

To read: Vox Party Calls for Expulsion of Muslim Ceuta Lawmaker Over Abascal Tweet

Abascal "has directly attacked my people and my land," said Fatima Hamed, the spokeswoman for MDyC, who described this decision against the president of Vox as "historic." "This is not an electoral issue because he wanted to humiliate, degrade and, if he could, expel anyone who does not think like the far right, a machine for generating hatred," she explained. "If the members of Vox in Ceuta do not like their multiculturalism, if they are ashamed of it, let them take the boat," Fatima Hamed said to the four parliamentary group members of Vox who voted against her proposal.

"In Ceuta, as has already been done in other European countries, limits must be set to prevent the spread of Vox’s hate speech, condemn its threats and show solidarity with the victims of these speeches like the MDyC and Caballas who have been described as pro-Moroccan," said the socialist Manuel Hernandez, justifying his support for the proposal.

To read: Vox Party Pushes to Replace Moroccan-Paid Imams in Ceuta with Spanish Appointees

The Vox spokesman, Carlos Verdejo, for his part, described the MDyC’s proposal as "absurd," and reiterated to Mohamed Ali (Caballas) that he is a "pro-Moroccan, he is one of those who shout Long live Spain and long live the king, but obey Morocco." "They have not condemned Mohammed VI, they support the fact that there are imams paid by the Moroccan Ministry of Religious Affairs here, so Abascal is absolutely right," he added.