‘I just want a chance’, says Moroccan migrant who attempted crossing into Cueta
Upon hearing the border had been breached, Abdulah Buji immediately mounted his motorbike, racing from his northern Moroccan home towards Ceuta.
He joined tens of thousands attempting to swim into the tiny Spanish territory, driven by the hope this mass crossing could unlock his dream of reaching Spain and a new life in Europe.
“Spain gives you the chance to make your future, not like Morocco,” explained the 21-year-old aspiring teacher. “I am a talented boy. I just want a chance.”
Yet, his elation at reaching Spanish soil quickly turned to disheartening reality. Mainland Europe lay across the Mediterranean, and he and the other new arrivals were unwanted. Spanish authorities ordered everyone to return or face expulsion.
Buji recounted almost joining the more than 60 people who died attempting to swim around a border fence. He made it across, but lost his belongings and money.
Realising he faced legal limbo and detention, he turned back. “I’ve spent perhaps 14 years studying, but there’s nothing at home, and I’d have to work 12-hour shifts for a meager wage,” Buji told The Associated Press.
“That’s why I came here, but I haven’t found any opportunities here either, so I have to go back.”
Of the 60,000 people who crossed between Thursday and Friday morning, some 45,000 had returned to Moroccan territory within hours after many spent the night on the streets of Ceuta amid startled locals and armed Spanish police and soldiers.
The massive influx of people, which totaled 70 per cent of Ceuta’s resident population, sparked calls by local Spanish authorities for police and the army to establish order.
Locals were concerned by the thousands of mostly young men aimlessly walking the streets.
Ceuta’s residents recalled a similar but smaller migration crisis in 2021, when the Moroccan government dropped its border controls and let several thousand people from Morocco and sub-Saharan countries into Ceuta over two days. The city faced a much larger humanitarian crisis this time.
As the first reports and videos of migrants reaching Ceuta spread on social media, more people headed north in hopes of reaching European Union territory.
Train stations in Morocco’s capital, Rabat, and in the country’s largest city, Casablanca, were crowded with people trying to travel to the border with Ceuta.
Local media showed police officers preventing some of them from boarding trains and buses.
