Moroccan security forces intervened to stop groups of individuals attempting to cross the border into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta after a call was made on social media for a mass migration effort. The Spanish Interior Ministry confirmed that despite some trying to breach the border fence, none were successful in entering Spain, thanks to joint Spanish and Moroccan security measures in recent days that effectively controlled the situation.
Reports indicated an online campaign urging people to travel to Ceuta on Sunday for a border crossing into Europe. Video footage shared on local networks revealed gatherings of people in the hills near the Moroccan border town of Fnideq, alongside an increased presence of Moroccan security forces, including helicopters.
Moroccan authorities revealed the arrest of 60 individuals suspected of instigating the mass migration attempt through social media platforms, according to a statement from the Moroccan intelligence agency DGSN on Facebook. Security personnel were heavily deployed in the area on Monday, prompting the groups of individuals who had responded to the social media call to disperse.
The groups consisted of Moroccans of various ages, including minors, as well as migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, Algeria, and elsewhere who had been residing in the region in anticipation of crossing into Europe, as stated by Moroccan human rights activist Achraf Mimoun. Mimoun emphasized that motivations for such actions are often driven by societal and economic factors, with families encouraging their children to seek better opportunities via immigration due to past instances where such attempts were successful.
Migrants and refugees have historically targeted the Spanish territories of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa as entry points to Europe, frequently attempting to overcome barbed wire fences encircling the cities or arriving by sea. Moroccan security forces have prevented more than 45,000 migration attempts from January to early September, with over 11,000 thwarted attempts in the vicinity of Ceuta and 3,000 around Melilla in August alone, as reported by the Moroccan Interior Ministry.
In a separate incident last month, thousands of migrants made efforts to enter Ceuta, including numerous young individuals attempting to swim around border controls, according to Spanish authorities. The article also clarifies that the statistics related to failed migration attempts around Ceuta and Melilla pertain to August specifically, not the entire year.
