Almost 60 people have died trying to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after as many as 60,000 migrants entered the tiny territory from Morocco in what Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, called a “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity”.
The huge influx, which took place over the course of just 24 hours, overwhelmed the city of 85,000 people, triggered a political crisis for Madrid and led to a barrage of criticism from other EU countries, including calls for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen free-movement zone.
Sánchez, who arrived in Ceuta on Friday morning, said he would use all the resources at his disposal to guarantee the safety of the people of Ceuta.
He attributed the mass crossing to “human trafficking mafias” that had taken advantage of a decision by Spain’s supreme court, which recently ruled that those intercepted at sea while trying to enter Ceuta, or Spain’s other north African enclave of Melilla, could not be summarily returned under special rules.
Sánchez said: “That has spread like wildfire during these last few hours through the networks of mafias that traffic in human beings and has produced an avalanche of the characteristics and dimension that we experienced yesterday.”
Sánchez said a temporary reception centre would be established to facilitate the documentation, registration, triage and “expedited” expulsion of people with no legal claim to be in Spain.
He also said the government would erect a visible barrier – a line of buoys – near the breakwater at Ceuta’s Tarajal beach to make it clear where the border was, to legally comply with the court’s ruling.
Spain’s interior ministry, which has deployed more police officers and soldiers to the enclave, said more than 37,500 people had voluntarily crossed the border back into Morocco by Friday afternoon.
The events in Ceuta – which has a land border with Africa – led some EU countries to issue strong threats or rebukes.
Italy said on Friday it was suspending the EU’s border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain for one month in response to a mass influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco.
Italy does not share a land border with Spain but the measure – which looks certain to anger Madrid – will impact people travelling by plane or boat between the two countries, meaning they will need to show a passport to gain access.
Italy’s interior ministry said in a statement it had also agreed with Paris to strengthen controls along the Franco-Italian land border to try to prevent any undocumented migrants from crossing.
Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, summoned Italy’s ambassador to Madrid on Friday after Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, blamed the situation in Ceuta on the Sánchez government’s decision to offer a now-closed scheme to regularise the status of more than one million undocumented migrants and asylum seekers.
He said the programme had incentivised human trafficking and was “profoundly wrong”.
Tajani’s remarks prompted a sharp response from Albares, who said the comments were “unbecoming” and accused Italy of “partisan demagoguery”.
In a statement later on Friday, the European Commission said Ceuta and Melilla were subject to special Schengen rules that prevented onward movement within the zone.
The EU’s migration commissioner, Magnus Brunner, called the situation in Ceuta “unacceptable” and said he was in close contact with the Spanish authorities.
Meanwhile, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan was in contact with Spain’s Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande Marlaska about the crisis.
In a post on X, O’Callaghan said he expressed his “solidarity and support to the Spanish Government as they deal with the situation in Ceuta.”
In reference to Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union Mr O’Callaghan continued: “I have asked the Irish Presidency team to convene a meeting tomorrow of the EU’s integrated political crisis response (IPCR) mechanism and a meeting of EU Ambassadors on Monday.”
The latest incident dwarfs the last mass border crossing in May 2021, when 10,000 people entered the territory over the course of two days by taking advantage of a loosening of border controls by Morocco.
Moroccan government sources told the Europa Press news agency that the surge of people entering Ceuta was down to “criminal organisations”, and insisted that Rabat’s co-operation with Spain remained “exemplary”.
Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local workers’ association representing Spanish Guardia Civil officers – which patrol Spain’s borders – described the situation as a “serious humanitarian crisis”.
Without shelter, thousands of people, including unaccompanied children, had been left sleeping in parks and on pavements, while others roamed the streets aimlessly. “It’s chaotic,” said Sbihi.
Among those who died, many drowned, but some were killed in a crush to cross the breakwater fence at Tarajal beach, Sbihi said.
Video footage on Thursday showed crowds of people walking around the breakwaters at Tarajal beach on to local roads. While most appeared to be young men, there were also families with women and small children.– Guardian
