Moroccan
police arrest more than 100 people as they attempt to enter Ceuta
Border
security tightened after social media posts call for another mass crossing into
Spain’s north African territory
Reuters
Sat 15
Aug 2026 19.08 BST
Moroccan
police have arrested 111 people as they tried to enter Spain’s north African
territory of Ceuta, amid tightened security on both sides after social media posts called for another mass crossing.
The
attempted crossing on Saturday came two weeks after more than 72,000 migrants
surged into Ceuta, causing tensions within the EU and prompting
anti-immigration rhetoric among far-right parties worldwide. At least 96 people
died trying to reach European soil.
A source
in Morocco’s interior ministry told news agency Reuters that those detained
included 109 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and two Moroccan citizens
arrested in or around Fnideq, the Moroccan city near Ceuta.
Moroccan
police used teargas to disperse groups of migrants gathered on hills about 1.9 miles (3km) from the
border, according to Spanish news agency EFE. Reuters later saw hundreds of
police officers, some in riot gear and others in plainclothes, returning from
the hills outside Fnideq.
EFE and
Spanish state broadcaster TVE said Morocco’s interior ministry ordered their
journalists to leave Fnideq immediately, without providing an explanation.
In Ceuta,
Spanish soldiers guarded supermarkets while police patrolled the main streets.
The city was calmer than in the days after the deadly crossing attempt on 30
July.
Madrid
has since installed a maritime barrier and deployed more than 500 additional
police officers from mainland Spain, raising the total in Ceuta to more than
1,600. The interior ministry said the reinforcements would remain for as long
as needed.
“We’ll
continue to deploy whatever personnel are necessary to restore normality as
soon as possible and prevent events like those of 30 July from happening
again,” Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said on Thursday.
About
5,000 migrants remained in Ceuta, the minister added. Reuters saw hundreds
sheltering from scorching heat under makeshift bamboo shelters on the urban
beach of El Trampolin.
Grande-Marlaska
said migrants who entered irregularly would not be allowed to stay in the
territory, travel to mainland Spain or obtain legal status, except in rare
cases involving extreme vulnerability. Those without a right to remain would be
returned to Morocco, he added.
Earlier
this week, Rabat said it was monitoring “the circulation of social media posts
and messages of unknown origin” calling for a mass crossing on 15 August, warning it would
prosecute organisers and participants.
A Reuters
witness saw reinforced security near the border, including police vans with
wire shields and road checkpoints. Local media reported similar measures near
Melilla, another Spanish territory in north Africa.
Authorities
prevented several groups from boarding trains and buses to northern Morocco in
cities such as Casablanca, Fez and Kenitra. However, witnesses told Reuters
that some migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were bypassing security checkpoints
by taking mountain routes towards Fnideq.
One
witness said the schools in Fnideq had been turned into accommodation for
security forces deployed near the border.
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