Spain will deploy its military to revive order at its border with Morocco in Ceuta after 1000’s of migrants streamed into the tiny Spanish territory.
The announcement comes after local authorities in Ceuta had asked the central government in Madrid for reinforcements to administer a border crisis that had been increase before boiling over on Thursday with large crowds of individuals breeching the border fence.
Spain’s government said Thursday evening it might send the Armed Forces to assist the Civil Guard “to take care of security in the town of Ceuta.” It also announced that Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez would join Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska and visit Ceuta Friday.
“The situation is absolute chaos,” Rachid Sbihi, head of the association that represents Spain’s Civil Guard officers in Ceuta, who police the border told The Associated Press. “It’s impossible to offer precise numbers, but there are millions 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 other people crossed,’’ he said.
Video footage showed crowds of individuals, mainly Moroccans, walking across the breakwaters at Tarajal beach onto local roads. While the bulk seemed to be young men, there have been also families with women and young children. Spanish media reported several
“Viva España!” some shouted to a contract photographer working for the AP. It was not immediately clear what prompted so many migrants to cross to Ceuta.
Arrivals had been increasing, but reasons still unclear
The escalation on the frontier between Spain and Morocco comes after a surge in migrants attempting to achieve the small exclave, mainly by swimming, on Wednesday. At the least three people died yesterday attempting to achieve Ceuta by sea, Sbihi and activists in each Morocco and Ceuta reported.
Moroccan authorities haven’t publicly commented on the crossings, and the inside ministry didn’t reply to requests for comment.
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Spain’s Interior Ministry said the Moroccan government was “closely cooperating” with Spain to handle the situation and that Moroccan police are stopping “many people” who try to cross the border. Each countries agreed to work together “for the return, as soon as possible, of all of the individuals who entered Ceuta illegally.”
Spain’s interior ministry earlier said it might guarantee the security of residents and the integrity of the nation’s border but that the federal government couldn’t declare a national emergency – as local authorities had asked – over migration concerns.
Ceuta authorities had previously linked the spike to a Spanish Supreme Court decision earlier this month that migrants who arrive by sea can’t be immediately pushed back across the border without due process, unlike those that cross into Spain by land — by climbing over the border fence, for instance.
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 most important point of arrival into Europe for migrants in search of higher economic opportunities or an escape from violence of their home countries.
To achieve Ceuta, situated on the northern African coast, migrants often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about 3.1 miles (five kilometers) to achieve Spanish territory. Others attempt the crossing from the nearby town of Belyounech, where the gap is shorter.
The scenes of individuals streaming across the frontier recall the border crisis of May 2021 when greater than 8,000 migrants poured into Ceuta in only two days.
On the time, Morocco was accused of easing border controls and allowing migrants to cross into the Ceuta after Spain allowed Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali to receive treatment at a Spanish hospital, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Madrid. The professional-independence Polisario Front for a long time has claimed to be the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people of the Western Sahara, disputed with Morocco.
Ceuta authorities ask Madrid to declare emergency, send army
Juan Jesús Vivas, the top of Ceuta’s regional government, called for the national government to declare an emergency on grounds of national security, asking for more police and for the military to be deployed on the border “to ensure the inviolability of the frontier and citizen safety.”
He had warned Wednesday that migrant reception centers were overwhelmed with tons of of individuals sleeping on the streets after greater than 1,500 migrants entered the territory prior to now week. But 1000’s more crossed overnight and Thursday.
Spain’s Interior Ministry, which tracks irregular migration, wouldn’t confirm the variety of migrants who had made it to Ceuta in the previous few days but said it might publish its next migration report on Aug. 3. As of July 15, nearly 3,000 migrants had entered Ceuta by land or sea this yr, in keeping with ministry figures.
Laws covering a declaration of national emergencies doesn’t consider migration flows as a risk to national security, in keeping with the ministry, which said government administrations are “coordinating to reply 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 staff, live in relative harmony behind a border fence that many desperate migrants from across Africa try and cross for a greater life in Europe.
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