Hundreds of migrants scaled barbed wire fences in a desperate attempt to enter a Spanish enclave in Morocco before being repelled by riot police.
The swarm of people, including Moroccans and minors, was seen on Sunday trying to enter the Spanish African enclave of Ceuta, near Fnideq, in northern Morocco.
Local media reported that another mass crossing attempt also took place on Sunday, but was similarly intercepted by Moroccan police.
Sunday was a day of high tension in the area after hundreds of people gathered at the border following calls on social media for an attempted gang rape.
The young migrants were mostly Moroccan, but some came from other parts of Africa, Spanish news agency EFE reported.
Migrants storm a barbed wire fence as they try to cross the land border with the Spanish African enclave of Ceuta, near Fnideq, northern Morocco, on September 15.
The migrants were detained by Moroccan riot police and sent back home.
Hundreds of people gathered at the border after calls on social media for an attempted gang rape
The Moroccan Interior Ministry said that in August, authorities blocked more than 11,300 attempts to cross into Ceuta and 3,300 into Melilla.
“Security authorities deported 2,400 people who were likely to try to emigrate illegally ‘in three days’,” Hespress reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed official source.
‘They were arrested as they were heading towards Fnideq to prepare their emigration to Ceuta.’
Since Friday, Moroccan security forces have been intensively deployed in Fnideq.
“This is the largest security deployment ever carried out in Fnideq; the authorities are acting preemptively by setting up multiple checkpoints on the roads to northern Morocco,” said Mohammed Ben Aissa, a local human rights activist.
A police source told AFP that 60 people were arrested between Monday and Wednesday for “fabricating and spreading false information on social media” to encourage illegal collective border crossings.
On September 15, or “The Promised Day,” there were widespread calls on social media for mass migration from Morocco to Ceuta.
The viral messages, spread mainly through platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, urged young Moroccans to gather in the border town of Fnideq and then attempt to illegally cross en masse into Ceuta via the El Tarajal border.
According World news from MoroccoThe posts encouraged followers to swim or walk across the border into Ceuta on Sunday, using emojis including Moroccan and Spanish flags.
These “publicly announced invitations” raised questions about how such secret operations could be so openly publicised, inducing thousands of young Moroccans to flock to Fnideq in preparation for what was locally dubbed the “Great Escape”.
In response to the “Great Escape” planned by young Moroccans, Spain has been forced to mobilize additional military reinforcements to the coast of Ceuta.
And on the other side of the border, members of the Civil Guard and the National Police have increased their deployment along the border strip, using helicopters to monitor the border fence.
The Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are the only land borders between Africa and the European Union and both have seen massive influxes of migrants trying to cross the border to reach the EU.
Members of the Moroccan Auxiliary Forces detain a man after they were deployed to prevent illegal crossings of the land border fence with the Spanish African enclave of Ceuta
Moroccan police on August 16 turned back hundreds of people heading towards the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
On September 15, or ‘The Promised Day’, there were widespread calls on social media for mass migration from Morocco to Ceuta.
The movement was dubbed locally as “The Great Escape.”
Since Friday, Moroccan security forces have been intensively deployed in Fnideq
Local reports said hundreds of young Moroccans managed to reach Fnideq, the nearest town to Ceuta, before police detained them overnight and sent them back home.
The Moroccan Interior Ministry said authorities blocked more than 11,300 attempts to cross into Ceuta and 3,300 into Melilla in August.
But the most popular route from Morocco for migrants hoping to reach Spain is by sea.
As of August 15, more than 22,300 migrant arrivals have been recorded in the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean this year, which represents an increase of 126 percent compared to 2023.
Some tried to breach the border fence that has long been a flashpoint for sporadic migration tensions, but none managed to enter Spain, Spain’s interior ministry confirmed Monday.
He said that the security efforts of Spain and Morocco in recent days “allowed the situation to be brought under control.”
Morocco and Spain have worked to strengthen cooperation to tackle illegal migration since mending a diplomatic rift in 2022 over Rabat’s plans for autonomy for Western Sahara.
Morocco’s Interior Ministry says authorities prevented more than 45,000 people from entering Europe illegally in the first eight months of this year.
Last month, hundreds of migrants used thick fog as cover to swim to Ceuta, Spanish police said.
In June 2022, human rights organisations in Spain and Morocco called on both countries to investigate after 23 migrants died when some 2,000 people tried to cross the border.
Tighter surveillance of Morocco’s northern borders has prompted increasing numbers of migrants to attempt the longer and riskier Atlantic route to the Canary Islands.