Spain's King Juan Carlos on Monday started a controversial visit to the disputed enclave of Ceuta which has sparked a major diplomatic row with Morocco.
Ceuta and another city enclave on the Moroccan coast, Melilla, have been in Spanish hands for centuries but are claimed by the North African country which recalled its ambassador to Madrid last week in protest at the king's first visit to the enclaves.
Juan Carlos arrived by helicopter to cheers of "Long Live Spain" and "Ceuta is Spanish" from tens of thousands of residents. He was given a 21-gun salute.
Around 1,000 Moroccans held a demonstration against the visit at the Moroccan border post with Ceuta, with one banner reading: "King Juan Carlos, Get Out Of Morocco's Ceuta and Melilla."
The two-day visit to the enclaves by Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia is the first in his 32-year reign. It also comes against the backdrop of new Al-Qaeda threats against Spanish, French and US interests in North Africa.
"I have an engagement to honour face to face with Ceuta, with the Ceutans, with the Ceutan authorities but also with myself," Juan Carlos told the city assembly in a speech.
"I did not want to let any more time pass without coming to Ceuta to express to you our approval and our support," he added -- without mentioning directly the row the visit had caused with Morocco.
Spain "cultivates a sincere friendship with its neighbours," he added.
The Moroccan parliament was to debate the royal visit later Monday.
Rabat has already called the trip "regrettable" in addition to recalling its ambassador.
The trip began with an official lunch in Ceuta before the opening of a sports centre named after the king.
Juan Carlos will not spend the night in Ceuta but return to Malaga before going to Melilla on Tuesday.
According to Spain's El Pais newspaper, the government in Madrid demanded an urgent security appraisal of the visit from its National Intelligence Centre (CNI).
But Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told Spanish radio that there were "no specific worries" about the trip.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero sought to patch over the diplomatic damage at the weekend, insisting that Spanish-Moroccan relations were still "very good."
Zapatero visited the two enclaves last year -- the first official visit by a Spanish prime minister since the early 1980s.
Ceuta has been in Spanish hands since 1580 and Melilla since 1496. Both were kept as military bases due to their strategic location on the Mediterranean coast.
Ceuta is a town of 74,000 inhabitants and around 20 square kilometres (12.5 square miles) situated about 50 kilometres east of Tangiers, practically facing Gibraltar across the narrow straits.
Melilla, further east along the coast, is about 12.5 square kilometres. Its 57,000 strong population is 40 percent Muslim.
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