CEUTA, Spain (AP) \u2014 Ceuta over the weekend no longer looked like a city on edge, but residents were still rattled by the events of the week.<\/p>\n
Most of the 60,000 migrants who swam, scrambled and later charged into the tiny Spanish exclave in North Africa this week had walked back to Morocco by Sunday, but some stayed on in the hills surrounding the city. Spanish civil guard ships continued searching for bodies in the waters near the stretch of urban beach that tens of thousand of migrants had breached days earlier. <\/p>\n
Shops in Ceuta reopened, and the usual blend of residents and tourists in the city of 84,000 were filling the open-air terraces, restaurants and cafes.<\/p>\n
But the city that prides itself on being home to four cultures was still grappling with the aftermath of the border surge, with locals disagreeing on what caused it and who exactly is to blame.<\/p>\n
Border surge breathes new life into Europe\u2019s immigration debate <\/p>\n
At least 72 migrants died, including some who drowned and others who were killed in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier<\/a>, Spanish authorities said Sunday. The humanitarian crisis caused by the sudden rush of people has reignited a debate around immigration in Europe and beyond.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not the young men\u2019s fault,\u201d said Mohamad Abdelkader Driss, 44, a waiter at a fried fish restaurant in town. \u201cIf you open the border, of course everyone comes in, but the young men aren\u2019t to blame. The authorities are responsible.\u201d <\/p>\n Some migrants who returned to Morocco described a border that was effectively open and said authorities did little as they watched thousands of people cross.<\/p>\n The unauthorized arrivals on Thursday and Friday of 50,000 to 60,000, mostly young men, swelled Ceuta\u2019s population by more than half. Abdelkader lamented what happened, but said that those who breached the border behaved relatively well.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could have been much worse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Far-right politicians call for remaining migrants to be expelled<\/p>\n Over the weekend, far-right, anti-immigrant Spanish politicians and well-known right-wing influencers descended on the city, sparking counterprotests that included members of the Spanish city\u2019s large Muslim population, many of whom are of Moroccan descent. <\/p>\n Alvise P\u00e9rez, a far-right Spanish politician and member of the European Parliament, called on Saturday evening for migrants to be expelled as he faced an angry crowd of rival protesters. P\u00e9rez eventually had to shelter in a bar as residents banged on the windows, until police escorted him away. <\/p>\n Among the counterprotesters on Saturday was 20-year-old Ceuta resident and student Noor Ahmed. She denounced the protest and presence of figures like P\u00e9rez in her city as opportunistic.<\/p>\n \u201cThey just want to take advantage of the humanitarian crisis Ceuta is currently experiencing,\u201d Ahmed said.<\/p>\n