Moroccan authorities prevented dozens of migrants from reaching the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after calls on social media for a mass migration attempt, according to Euractiv.
Spain’s two enclaves on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, Ceuta and Melilla, share the European Union’s only land borders with Africa. The territories face waves of attempted crossings by migrants trying to reach Europe.
In the latest attempt, dozens of migrants gathered in Fnideq on Sunday and began throwing stones at Moroccan security forces. However, police prevented them from approaching the Ceuta fence.
Moroccan authorities stated that they arrested at least 60 people last week for using social media to incite migrants to attempt mass border crossings. Mohammed Ben Aissa, a local human rights activist, said:
This is the heaviest security deployment ever in Fnideq with authorities acting pre-emptively by setting up multiple checkpoints on roads to northern Morocco.
Most of the migrants are Moroccan youths, joined by a small number of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Morocco and Spain strengthened their co-operation in the fight against illegal migration since they settled a separate diplomatic feud in 2022.
Morocco stopped 45,015 people from migrating illegally to Europe in the first eight months of this year, according to the interior ministry. Stricter surveillance of Morocco’s northern borders also prompted a growing number of migrants to try the risky and long Atlantic route to the Canary Islands.
