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Ceuta surge and denials
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez denied accusations that his government ignored warnings before an estimated 60,000 people entered Ceuta on July 30-31, telling parliament on Thursday that there had been no “alerts or special notices” prior to the border crossing.
“there had been no “alerts or special notices” prior to July 30-31”
Sánchez said, “We have examined all the messages, statements and verbal reports from the state security apparatus,” and added that “absolutely none of them predicted the probability or the scale of what ended up occurring.”
The crisis has become a political flashpoint as protesters took to the streets across Spain, with El País reporting that around 20,000 people gathered in Ceuta itself and about 50,000 demonstrators rallied in Madrid.
In Madrid, protesters chanted insults directed at Sánchez and the Socialist Party (PSOE), while riot police were called in after the main protest ended at Cibeles Square and a group of several hundred people continued toward Congress with cries of “Viva España!” and “Ceuta is not for sale!”.
Protests, blame, and counterclaims
As Spain’s political fight intensified, the Associated Press reported that in Madrid authorities said some 50,000 protesters turned out, and after the demonstration ended an AP journalist heard shots and explosions.
AP also reported that Spanish newspaper El País said police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds, while demonstrators shouted “Sánchez to prison” and “Invaders — go home!” referring to thousands of migrants still in the city.
El País described how Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the People’s Party (PP) and Santiago Abascal of Vox attended the Madrid march separately, accusing Sánchez of “lying” to Spaniards and of being a “traitor to Spain” and a “lackey of Morocco.”
In parallel, RTVE reported that the Spanish government maintained that “no existe ninguna prueba” linking Moroccan forces to the mass entry, citing Interior sources saying there was no police report attributing planning or execution of the July 30-31 events in Ceuta to Moroccan security forces.
RTVE also quoted the government’s position that “no existe ninguna prueba que acredite la participación en la planificación y ejecución de las fuerzas marroquíes,” while noting that the executive said it had not read the report origin of the dispute.
What’s at stake next
The dispute over responsibility has continued to shape Spain’s response, with Reuters reporting that nearly five weeks after the surge, over 10,000 migrants, including unaccompanied minors, remained stranded in makeshift camps or scattered across streets and beaches in the enclave, according to Ceuta’s authorities.
“over 10,000 migrants, including unaccompanied minors, remain stranded”
Reuters said the government increased capacity at temporary accommodation centres to more than 3,400 places from about 500 and deployed over 1,600 police, but local groups and political leaders said it still fell far short of what was needed to keep citizens and migrants safe.
In his address, Sánchez told Congress that Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish “in perpetuity” and promised “deterrence” if there are “solid proofs” of Rabat’s involvement in the crisis.
Sánchez also said, “Four out of every five migrants who accessed Ceuta (about 72,000) did so via that jetty,” and he argued that Spanish agents chose to “defend human life” rather than guarantee the Spanish border on July 30.
The same reporting said Sánchez reiterated that the government did not receive any report or verbal note that anticipated “the scale or the probability” of the mass arrival, and he said “None went beyond the description of data or the routine warning.”