Border management was effectively paralyzed as thousands of migrants in Morocco swam across the sea or climbed border fences to enter the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
Amid a rise in attempts to cross the border after Spain's Supreme Court ruled recently that migrants caught at sea cannot be returned immediately, confusion grew as Moroccan police failed to control the large crowds.
According to the Guardian and EFE on the 30th, local time, thousands of people tried to enter Ceuta from Morocco's northern coast starting at noon that day. Most swam or walked around the breakwater, and some arrived by motorcycle or car.
Spain's public broadcaster TVE reported that 2,000 to 3,000 people entered Ceuta that day. DPA said more than 1,500 crossed the border over the past few days. Among them were not only young men but also families with children, unaccompanied minors and older adults.
Moroccan police blocked a road about 500 meters from the border checkpoint and used tear gas and water cannons. However, they reportedly lost control as people moved toward nearby hills and the sea. Some were seen injured on barbed wire at the scene.
Rachid Sbihi, head of the Ceuta Civil Guard Association, said, "As thousands crossed the border, the border management system completely collapsed." Spanish police recovered two bodies on the 29th believed to be migrants. AFP reported that a total of nine bodies had been found in connection with the incident.
The recent Supreme Court ruling has been cited as the backdrop to the incident. Earlier this month, the court ruled that migrants caught trying to enter Ceuta or Melilla by sea should not be immediately sent back to Morocco without due process.
A Civil Guard official said, "After the Supreme Court ruling, migrants started coming in little by little, and the inflow surged explosively today." The Moroccan government claimed that criminal groups encouraged the mass movement of migrants.
Ceuta is on the African continent but belongs to Spain, so entering it is considered entry into the European Union (EU). For that reason, attempts by migrants seeking to reach Europe to cross the border have been repeated. In 2021, about 10,000 people entered Ceuta amid diplomatic tensions between Spain and Morocco.
The Spanish government deployed 60 additional troops and 30 Civil Guard officers and is discussing the repatriation of migrants with Morocco. However, it did not accept the Ceuta authorities' request to declare a national state of emergency.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on X (formerly Twitter), "The central government is mobilizing all necessary resources and, in cooperation with Moroccan and international authorities, is preparing measures for normalization as quickly as possible."