MADRID: Thousands of people rallied in Madrid on Saturday to protest the Spanish government’s handling of a recent migrant influx into Ceuta, accusing it of failing to protect the country’s borders and calling for an early general election. Demonstrators, many waving red and yellow Spanish flags, chanted “Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta must be defended” as they marched through the center of the Spanish capital. Ceuta, a Spanish territory located in North Africa, has been embroiled in a humanitarian crisis since more than 70,000 migrants arrived from neighboring Morocco on July 30 and 31. Most returned in the following hours, but thousands have remained for weeks, many sleeping on the streets, straining the small city’s resources and creating a political crisis for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. The protest was organized by right-leaning civil society platform Sociedad Civil Espanola and backed by the conservative People’s Party (PP) and far-right Vox. The central government’s representative in Madrid put the turnout at around 20,000. The organizers of the protest said 180,000 participated. A manifesto issued by the group called for an early general election by November 15, the return to Morocco of all migrants who entered Ceuta and for Sanchez to be tried for “treason”. “There is clear negligence,” the PP’s parliamentary spokesman Miguel Tellado told reporters at the demonstration, adding that “the majority of Spaniards are calling for an election now”. The next general election in Spain is due by August 2027. The government plans to approve a decree at its Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to accelerate the return of migrants from Ceuta to Morocco, daily newspaper El País reported on Saturday. The measure would shorten the time allowed to decide asylum applications and limit applicants’ ability to remain in Spain while their cases are being considered, the report said. But Vox leader Santiago Abascal said: “No one can trust this government to do anything.” “This government has done nothing throughout this time,” he told reporters at the protest when asked about the report. The government has increased capacity at temporary migrant shelters in Ceuta, deployed hundreds of police officers and soldiers and boosted funding for the territory’s government. But local groups and opposition parties say those measures fall short of what is needed to resolve the crisis.