CEUTA, Spain (AP) — Thousands of migrants streamed into the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta from Morocco on Thursday, prompting local officials to call on Spain to declare a national emergency and send the army to restore the frontier.
Spain’s interior ministry said it would guarantee the safety of citizens and the integrity of the nation’s border, but that the government could not declare a national emergency over migration concerns.
“The situation is absolute chaos,” said Rachid Sbihi, head of the association that represents Spain’s Civil Guard officers in Ceuta, who police the border. “It’s not possible to give precise numbers, but there are thousands of migrants crossing,” he said, adding that the border had “totally collapsed.”
Achraf Maimouni, a member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights in northern Morocco, described the situation as ‘’exceptional.”
“The Tarajal border was opened under unusual circumstances this morning and people crossed,” he said.
Video footage showed crowds of people, mainly Moroccans, walking around the breakwaters at Tarajal beach onto local roads. While the majority appeared to be young men, there were also families with women and children. “Viva España!” some shouted to a freelance photographer working for The Associated Press. It was not immediately clear what prompted so many migrants to cross to Ceuta.
Arrivals had been increasing, but reasons still unclear
The escalation at the frontier between Spain and Morocco comes after a surge in migrants attempting to reach the small exclave, mainly by swimming, on Wednesday. At least three people died yesterday attempting to reach Ceuta by sea, Sbihi and activists in both Morocco and Ceuta reported.
Moroccan authorities have not publicly commented on the crossings, and the interior ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said the Moroccan government was “closely cooperating” with Spain to handle the situation and that Moroccan police are stopping “numerous people” who are trying to cross the border. Both countries agreed to work together “for the return, as soon as possible, of all the people who entered Ceuta illegally.”
Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the Spanish Interior Minister, will travel to Ceuta on Friday to evaluate the situation.
Ceuta authorities had previously linked the spike to a Spanish Supreme Court decision earlier this month that migrants who arrive by sea cannot be immediately pushed back across the border without due process, unlike those who cross into Spain by land — by climbing over the border fence, for example.
But some activists in Morocco expressed doubt that the ruling was behind the surge, arguing most migrants would have been unaware of such legal decisions.
Spain is a main point of arrival into Europe for migrants seeking better economic opportunities or an escape from violence in their home countries.
To reach Ceuta, located on the northern African coast, migrants often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) to reach Spanish territory. Others attempt the crossing from the nearby town of Belyounech, where the distance is shorter.
The scenes of people streaming across the frontier recall the border crisis of May 2021 when more than 8,000 migrants poured into Ceuta in just two days.
At the time, Morocco was accused of easing border controls and allowing migrants to cross into the Ceuta after Spain allowed Morocco rival, Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali, to receive medical treatment at a Spanish hospital, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Madrid.
The pro-independence Polisario Front for decades has claimed to be the legitimate representative of the indigenous Sahrawi people of the Western Sahara, disputed with Morocco.
Ceuta authorities ask Madrid to declare emergency, send army
Juan Jesús Vivas, the head of Ceuta’s regional government, called for the national government to declare a national emergency on grounds of national security, asking for more police and for the army to be deployed on the border.
Vivas said the additional police and soldiers would be necessary “to guarantee the inviolability of the frontier and citizen safety.”
He had warned on Wednesday that migrant reception centers were overwhelmed with hundreds of people sleeping on the streets after more than 1,500 migrants entered the territory in the past week. But thousands more crossed overnight and Thursday.
Spain’s Interior Ministry, which tracks irregular migration, would not confirm the number of migrants who had made it to Ceuta in the last few days but said it would publish its next migration report on Aug. 3. As of July 15, nearly 3,000 migrants had entered Ceuta by land or sea this year, according to ministry figures.
Legislation covering a declaration of national emergencies does not consider migration flows as a risk to national security, according to the ministry, which said government administrations are “coordinating to respond with speed and efficacy to the situation in Ceuta.”
Ceuta, which is perched on a historical isthmus, has been a Spanish possession since 1580. Its mixed population of Christians and Muslims, Spanish and Moroccan residents and day workers, live in relative harmony behind a border fence that many desperate migrants from across Africa attempt to cross for a better life in Europe.
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Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain. AP journalists Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain and Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, contributed to this report.
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