Footage and images show scores of people, many of whom appear to be young men, bypassing the Tarajal border fence between Morocco and the Spanish exclave of Ceuta.
Ceuta has long been considered a gateway for migrants seeking better lives in Europe, and the city has progressively fortified its border in response to perennial illegal border crossings. But Thursday saw a yet-to-be-explained surge: come Friday morning, Spain’s interior ministry estimated that some 49,000 migrants rushed into Ceuta in the previous 24 hours, though the government statement was later removed without explanation. Centres that receive migrants have been overwhelmed, while parks and streets were crowded with people from across the border.
Juan Jesús Vivas, Ceuta’s President, called the crisis “a situation of absolute humanitarian and social emergency” on radio station Cadena SER on Thursday and asked that Ceuta be placed under a “national emergency.”
The Moroccan government is asking its citizens who have crossed the border to return home. Morocco’s ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich, said at an embassy event on Thursday that the situation in Ceuta was “not wanted by the Kingdom of Morocco,” adding that it would “prefer legal, orderly, and safe immigration for everyone.”
