Over 100 migrants headed for Spain’s Ceuta arrested by Morocco in latest border surge
Moroccan authorities have arrested at least 111 individuals attempting to enter Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, following a security crackdown prompted by online calls for another mass border crossing.
The attempt comes two weeks after more than 72,000 migrants surged into the territory, an incident that heightened political tensions across the European Union and stoked anti-immigration rhetoric from far-right parties globally. At least 96 people died during that earlier attempt to reach European soil.
A Moroccan Interior Ministry official told Reuters that those detained included 109 sub-Saharan African migrants and two Moroccan nationals, apprehended in and around Fnideq, the border city facing Ceuta.
Spanish news agency EFE reported that Moroccan police fired tear gas to disperse groups gathered on hills roughly three kilometres (1.9 miles) from the border. Reuters reporters later observed hundreds of police officers, including riot units and plain-clothes officers, returning from the area.
Both EFE and Spanish state broadcaster TVE said Morocco’s Interior Ministry ordered their journalists to leave Fnideq immediately, offering no explanation for the demand.
Across the border in Ceuta, Spanish soldiers guarded supermarkets while heavily armed police patrolled the main thoroughfares. The city appeared quieter than in the chaotic days following the deadly crossing on July 30.
Madrid has since erected a maritime barrier and deployed more than 500 extra police officers from mainland Spain, bringing the total security presence in Ceuta to over 1,600. The Interior Ministry confirmed the reinforcements would stay as long as necessary.
“We’ll continue to deploy whatever personnel are necessary to restore normality as soon as possible and prevent events like those of July 30 from happening again,” Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on Thursday.
Around 5,000 migrants remain inside Ceuta, according to the minister. Hundreds were seen taking cover from scorching temperatures under makeshift bamboo shelters along the urban beach of El Trampolin.
Grande-Marlaska stated that those entering irregularly would not be permitted to stay in Ceuta, travel to mainland Spain, or receive legal status, except in rare cases involving severe vulnerability. Those without a right to remain face deportation to Morocco.
Earlier this week, Rabat stated it was monitoring “the circulation of social media posts and messages of unknown origin” calling for a mass crossing on August 15, warning that organisers and participants would face prosecution.
A Reuters witness reported heightened security near the border, including police vans fitted with wire shields and road checkpoints. Local media indicated similar measures were implemented around Spain’s other North African enclave, Melilla.
Authorities stopped several groups from boarding trains and buses heading toward northern Morocco from cities including Casablanca, Fez, and Kenitra. However, witnesses told Reuters that some sub-Saharan African migrants bypassed checkpoints by taking mountain routes toward Fnideq.
One witness noted that local schools in Fnideq were converted into temporary accommodation for security forces deployed to the border.
