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Ceuta rush and 67 deaths
Spain installed a 500-meter-long containment barrier along the sea border between its North African territory of Ceuta and Morocco after a sudden rush of migrants left at least 67 dead.
“Spain on Saturday installed a 500-meter-long (1,600-foot) barrier”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the mass crossing represented “a violation of Spain’s territorial sovereignty,” while Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told journalists, “We are relentless against those who break the law.”
The crisis unfolded after tens of thousands of migrants breached the frontier earlier in the week, with Spain saying about 50,000 people crossed from Morocco to Ceuta since Thursday morning and estimating 48,300 had returned by 6pm on Friday.
Spanish officials said the majority of those who entered between Thursday and Friday soon went back, and NPR reported that the death toll climbed to 67 as some drowned and others were killed in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier.
Ceuta’s President Juan Jesus Vivas said the return of people had begun but “the city has not yet returned to normal,” even as security for residents of the autonomous city of 84,000 remained bruised.
EU divisions and threats
The events triggered a political dispute across the European Union, with 22 EU governments calling for an emergency meeting of interior ministers and a letter warning that uncontrolled mass crossings could create “the perception that illegal entry into the European Union is possible.”
In his letter to top EU officials, Sánchez slammed the reaction of some EU leaders as being “driven by prejudice, fake news, ignorance, or political interest,” and he also asked for a videoconference of EU interior ministers to establish a common response.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni threatened to suspend Italy’s open-border Schengen agreement with Spain, and Italy reimposed border controls for people arriving from Spain by air and sea.
Al Jazeera reported that EU chief Ursula von der Leyen described the images from Ceuta as “unacceptable” and that French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said France would tighten its borders with Spain.
DW reported that a Moroccan human rights organization called for an independent investigation and denounced “the troubling silence of all Moroccan state officials and institutions,” while also urging accountability for any failure to provide protection.
Barriers, returns, and what’s next
Spain said it began installing the barrier early Saturday at the Tarajal breakwater, and El País reported that the pneumatic barrier would rise between 30 and 70 centimeters above the water while extending up to one meter below the surface.
“La barrera flotante, instalada por el Ministerio del Interior, cuenta con una altura en superficie de 30 a 70 centímetros”
El País also said the deployment of the barrier and the presence of the Army and maritime resources had already “frenado las entradas de personas en Ceuta,” while Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska emphasized that Morocco was “a completely reliable partner.”
NPR said a handful of exhausted migrants who swam to Ceuta’s urban Tarajal beach Saturday morning were met by soldiers who escorted them back across the border, and it quoted Ceuta’s President Juan Jesus Vivas on the city’s disrupted conditions.
Al Jazeera reported that “Virtually all those who entered Ceuta have now returned to Morocco,” while also noting Spanish officials said there could be additional casualties on the Moroccan side of the border.
DW added that the Moroccan Association for Human Rights held the Moroccan state “direct and full” responsibility for the migrant flow and called for “a serious and independent investigation” into the circumstances and causes of the displacement waves.
