Police decry conditions in Ceuta: One bathroom for 70 officers and eight officers to a room

Ceuta Police Officers Report Overcrowded Barracks After Migrant-Crisis Deployment

Background: Reinforced Security After July Arrivals

Poinews.com – When large groups of migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on 30 and 31 July, most were subsequently sent back across the border. In the aftermath, Madrid bolstered the autonomous city’s security posture by sending in multiple National Police formations, among them the Police Intervention Units (UIP). Several weeks into that deployment, however, officers stationed in Ceuta began publicly airing grievances about the living arrangements provided to them.

What Officers Are Facing at Mixed Artillery Regiment No. 30

Testimonies shared with the local daily El Faro de Ceuta, and relayed through the Spanish Confederation of Police (CEP), paint a picture of a facility riddled with hygiene and rest-related deficiencies. Rooms at the Mixed Artillery Regiment No. 30 barracks are reportedly outfitted with eight bunk beds, so that seven or eight officers may occupy a single space. Ventilation is poor, showers are in disrepair, mattresses are worn out, and air conditioning is absent — a single fan serves the entire room. During Ceuta’s scorching summer months, those limitations make adequate sleep nearly impossible.

Perhaps the most striking figure cited by the union: roughly 70 officers on one floor of the barracks may be funnelled into a single toilet. The CEP labels that ratio incompatible with basic sanitary and rest standards.

The Union’s Public Rebuke

“It is outrageous. Every time there is a crisis Marlaska calls on the police. He knows we are a guarantee of success. But then, as in Ceuta, he punishes us with degrading accommodation that looks like a chamber of horrors.”

The remark appeared in a CEP post on social-media platform X, made in connection with the Onda Madrid radio station. In a separate X post tied to Onda Cero radio, the union added:

“Colleagues are going to give their all in Ceuta because they are professionals and they know what is at stake there for Spain. Meanwhile, Marlaska punishes them with degrading accommodation, in conditions that would force any minister to resign.”

Officers Draw a Line Between Treatment and Infrastructure

Despite the complaints, the deployed officers are careful to note that their frustration is not aimed at the military personnel who manage the barracks. They credit the army’s willingness to accommodate their needs within whatever resources exist and describe the day-to-day treatment as positive.

“We have been treated very well. Top marks to them, but the conditions are what they are and all they have available.”

CEP Demands an Urgent Inspection and Corrective Measures

In formal response to the officers’ grievances, the CEP has requested an immediate preventive inspection of the Ceuta housing facilities. The union is asking for a dedicated risk assessment to verify whether the premises satisfy applicable safety and health thresholds. That review would include measurements of temperature, humidity, and airflow, alongside an evaluation of the spaces set aside for officers’ rest.

Should the inspection confirm the shortcomings described, the CEP insists on prompt remedial action: upgrading toilets and showers, replacing degraded mattresses, and, if the barracks cannot be brought up to standard, securing alternative accommodation so that deployed officers receive decent conditions for the duration of their assignment in the city.