SPAIN’s prime minister has blamed trafficking gangs after about 60,000 migrants crossed into the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco. At least 57 people died during the surge, according to local media.
Pedro Sánchez called the incident a “violation of Spain’s territorial integrity”. Italy has responded by suspending the EU’s border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain.
The influx comes after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla, another Spanish enclave, cannot be summarily returned to Morocco.
As of Friday evening, more than 48,000 people had voluntarily returned to Morocco, Spanish officials said.
One man told Reuters news agency he was going back, adding: “It’s not good at all, and it’s not fun either. I mean, people are dying here. I beg you, please, if you haven’t come yet, don’t come. Don’t do it.”
Ceuta on the North African coast is separated from mainland Spain by the Strait of Gibraltar. It has long been a focal point for migrants attempting to reach Europe. During the summer months there is often a big push to reach Ceuta, typically organised over social media.
Coveted by Morocco, Ceuta and another Spanish enclave Melilla have long been a flashpoint in diplomatic relations between the two countries. They form the European Union’s only land borders with Africa.
Local officials had appealed to Madrid for help after a recent rise in attempted crossings, but there were chaotic scenes on Thursday as border controls apparently broke down.
Carmen Gonzalez Bermudez who was in the city to see her parents told the BBC that the past day had been “very overwhelming”.
She said she saw “thousands and thousands of people in swimming costumes and all wet, just coming from the sea”, adding that “I know most of them are nice people just looking for a better future for themselves. But we cannot give that to them”.
Víctor Ortiz Sotomayor told the BBC he had “never seen anything like it”, describing the city as “packed with immigrants, in every square and street, mainly looking for food”.
“There were only a few stores open, but in the end the police advised them to close because of the overwhelming influx of people,” he added.
“My friends, my family and I are all staying at home. We haven’t gone outside because we’re scared.”
Referring to a previous surge of migrants into Ceuta, Carmen Gonzalez Bermudez said: “In 2021, we saw our police and our military doing something. Yesterday, they were in the streets, but they weren’t doing nothing. So that for starters feels really scary.”
Ceuta’s President Juan Jesús Vivas said the arrivals amounted to around 70% of the city’s population – which sits at around 83,600 according to the latest local figures. Spain’s Interior Ministry told the BBC that its estimates were slightly lower, citing 50,000 arrivals since the early hours of Thursday.
Spain has now deployed its armed forces to bolster security in Ceuta and at its sister city of Melilla, where between 300 to 400 crossings were also reported overnight.
Speaking on Friday during a visit to Ceuta, Sánchez said the surge was caused by criminal networks purposefully misinterpreting the recent Supreme Court ruling.
“What has emerged from our talks with Moroccan authorities is that trafficking mafias took a self-serving interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling” which “spread like wildfire”, he said.
He added that the government would look at reinforcing the border with Morocco, and that Moroccan authorities were co-operating with the return of those who had entered illegally.