(AFP) When she first heard that thousands of people were flooding across the border from Morocco into Spain’s Ceuta enclave, Gloria Nisrin admits she panicked.
“To be honest I was a bit scared because some people were saying they wanted to remove the (Spanish) settlers from Ceuta,” said this 38-year-old resident of the tiny Spanish territory in North Africa that is also claimed by Morocco.
“But when I saw them taking off their wet clothes and walking through the streets in their underwear, some of us gave them clothes,” she said.
“I just couldn’t see them like that, walking around with their feet all damaged from going barefoot.”
When an unprecedented 8,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta earlier this week, the images made global headlines but sparked fear in this enclave of 84,000 people, where many shops and bars closed for fear of looting.
