Chaos as thousands of migrants storm border into Spanish territory – police ‘overwhelmed’
There have been calls to declare a national emergency.
Ceuta (Image: PA)
Thousands of migrants have stormed into Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta as police are “overwhelmed” by the crowd of arrivals. Officials in Ceuta have called for a national emergency to be declared, which was ultimately rejected by authorities in Madrid, which also rejected calls to send in the army.
The tiny coastal territory is located on the northern tip of Morocco, where the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea meet in the Mediterranean. Crowds of people were seen walking around the breakwaters at Tarajal beach and onto roads as they celebrated their arrival.
Most of the migrants are from Morocco. (Image: Getty)
Videos show mainly young men arriving at the shore, along with some families with women and children.
A Guardia Civil spokesperson said migrants were “massively entering from the sea”, and state news agency Efe said some had entered by climbing the border fence.
Most of the 1,500 migrants who swam to the enclave over the past week are believed to be Moroccans.
Rachid Sbihi, the head of the association that represents Guardia Civil officers in Ceuta, said: “The situation is absolute chaos. It’s not possible to give precise numbers, but there are thousands of migrants crossing.”
Juan Jesus Vivas, the head of Ceuta’s regional government, said the influx has overwhelmed the reception system and left people sleeping outside, with facilities for unaccompanied minors operating at 2,400% capacity.
He told local radio: “We are facing a situation of absolute humanitarian and social emergency.”
Mr Vivas said a national emergency should be declared, and called on the national government to send more police and the army “to guarantee the inviolability of the frontier and citizen safety”.
While this request was denied, Spain’s interior ministry said Moroccan police had stopped “numerous people” from crossing the border. It added that the Moroccan government was “closely cooperating” with Spain to deal with the situation.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his government will provide “an immediate response” by “mobilising all necessary resources”.
He wrote on X: “We’re mobilising all necessary resources, working with Moroccan and international authorities, and preparing the necessary measures to restore normalcy as soon as possible.
“I just conveyed this to President Vivas. This is the moment to build solutions, with responsibility and cooperation.”
