Some 60,000 migrants have entered Spain’s Ceuta from Morocco in the past 24 hours, Ceuta’s president says. That is equivalent to 70 per cent of the city’s regular population.
At least 34 migrants have died in the process.
“The situation that Ceuta is going through is absolutely unsustainable,” said Juan Jesús Vivas on Friday.
The border crisis boiled over Thursday and continued on Friday with security forces clashing with migrants on the Moroccan side of the border.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the breach of the border on Friday speaking in Ceuta, describing the events as “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity.”
The Spanish leader cast blame on human smugglers, saying they “deceive so many young people, and ultimately lead many of them to their deaths — whether in the ocean or, as in this case, at Spain’s border in the autonomous city of Ceuta.”
Live footage of the border showed hundreds of migrants gathered on a hill overlooking Ceuta being dispersed with tear gas by Moroccan forces, while others continued to swim to the Spanish territory.
At the same time, large groups of migrants walked back from Ceuta toward Morocco to return home.
Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local workers association representing Civil Guard officers, called the situation a “serious humanitarian crisis,” saying thousands of migrants, including unaccompanied children, were left sleeping in parks and on sidewalks, while others roamed the streets aimlessly.
“People are still entering. The reinforcements, including Spanish military troops, that have arrived are only helping the injured and other humanitarian efforts,” he said. “It’s chaotic.”
People died in border chaos
Among the 18 who died, many drowned, Sbihi said, but some were also killed in a stampede to cross the breakwater fence at Tarajal beach, an urban beach near a border checkpoint with Morocco.
Ahmed Karim, a 33-year old Moroccan, said he had crossed into Ceuta because of the lack of jobs in his country.
“Many people want to go to Europe, America, but they don’t have the opportunity,” Karim said.
On Friday morning, the waters near the border fence were littered with buoys, shoes and other belongings left behind.
Moroccan police deployed additional personnel, used water cannons and fired warning shots into the air to prevent migrants from crossing into Ceuta, according to rights groups in Morocco.
“Despite the heavy police presence, people crossed through the waterway, while the land border remained closed,” said Achraf Maimouni, a human rights activist in Fnideq, the Moroccan city bordering Ceuta.
Migrants arrested at the border were taken farther into Morocco, away from Ceuta, “but people are still coming,” he said.
Morocco’s ambassador to Spain expressed hope that those who crossed from Morocco into the Spanish exclave would return. Karima Benyaich described the situation in Ceuta as difficult, saying it had unfolded against Morocco’s wishes.
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“We have always prioritized legal, orderly and safe migration for all,” she said. Benyaich did not comment on what prompted the migrants to cross into Ceuta.
But authorities in both Ceuta and Madrid, linked it to a recent decision by Spain’s Supreme Court that ruled migrants arriving by sea could not be summarily deported, unlike those who cross by land or climb the border fence.
Sánchez said migrant smugglers misinterpreted the ruling, but acknowledged that it may have played a role in sowing chaos.
“It appears that this interpretation of the Supreme Court’s ruling spread like wildfire over the past few hours through the networks of human trafficking organizations, triggering the kind of mass surge we witnessed yesterday,” Sánchez said.
Spain is a main point of arrival into Europe for migrants seeking better economic opportunities or an escape from violence in their home countries.
To reach Ceuta, located on the northern African coast, migrants often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about 3 miles (5 kilometers) to reach Spanish territory. Others attempt the crossing from the nearby town of Belyounech, where the distance is shorter.
Spanish leader criticized at home and abroad
Sánchez has bucked the anti-migration trend that has gained ground across Europe and in the U.S.. While the Trump administration and other European countries have tightened their borders and stepped up deportations, Spain earlier this year moved to give residency and work permits to hundreds of thousands of migrants already living in the country without permission.
Sánchez, a Socialist, argued that it would be good for the economy and the demographics of an aging Spain. Migrants who entered irregularly after January 1, 2026, were not included.
But his critics have jumped the opportunity granted them by the endless reels of young Moroccans streaming into Ceuta to attack his policy, saying it encouraged more migrants to come to Spain.
“Sánchez allows Spain to be invaded through Ceuta,” Spanish conservative politician Isabel Díaz Ayuso wrote on X.
Sánchez on Friday distanced the migrant legalization push from the events unfolding in Ceuta.
The chaos had ripple effects abroad as well. Premier Giorgia Meloni threatened to suspend Italy’s open-border Schengen agreement with Spain “to defend our borders and ensure the safety of our citizens,” even though Italy doesn’t share a border with Spain and is also a main entry point for tens of thousands of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa each year.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said France would also strengthen border checks with Spain, writing on X that he had activated the Rapid Intervention Border Force.
“This crisis in Ceuta has nothing to do with the regularization of migrants adopted by the Government of Spain, as is being falsely claimed by some,” the Spanish government said in a statement late Thursday after Meloni’s announcement. It also summoned Italy’s ambassador in Madrid.
“This crisis stems from an interpretation of a Supreme Court’s decision, according to which people who swim illegally across the border cannot be returned,” the Spanish government said. The decision has been exploited by smugglers who take advantage of vulnerable migrants, it added.
Some activists in Morocco expressed doubt that the ruling was behind the surge, arguing most migrants would have been unaware of such legal decisions.
Migrants cross into another Spanish exclave
Migrants from Morocco also attempted to cross into Melilla, Spain’s other territory at the tip of North Africa.
There was widespread chaos in Bni Nsar, the Moroccan town bordering the Spanish territory, where migrants clashed with police, throwing rocks and setting police vehicles ablaze, according to local media and rights groups. They reported injuries among security forces and the arrest of dozens of people attempting to cross.
Omar Naji of the local branch of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights told the AP that the crossing attempts into Melilla appeared to be linked to the situation in Ceuta.
Like Ceuta, Melilla is a Spanish autonomous city on the North African coast. Many Moroccans consider both cities to be occupied territory.
Ceuta authorities had warned of a looming crisis
Juan Jesús Vivas, the head of Ceuta’s regional government, had warned earlier this week that migrant reception centers were overwhelmed as arrivals by sea had steadily been increasing before the chaos erupted Thursday.
Spain’s Interior Ministry would not confirm the number of migrants who had made it to Ceuta but said it would publish its next migration report on Monday.
Spanish media, citing unnamed government and security sources, estimated between 30,000 and 49,000 migrants had crossed in the past 24 hours. A member of Spain’s civil guard who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release figures to the media said that 49,000 people were estimated to crossed. That’s more than half of Ceuta’s nearly 84,000 population.
Sbihi, of the civil guard workers association, said it was difficult to know exact numbers but believed tens of thousands of migrants had made it through.
Ceuta has been a Spanish possession since 1580. Its mixed population of Christians and Muslims, Spanish and Moroccan residents and day workers, lives in relative harmony.
Love how socialists always complain after the fact. Yore bed, you sleep in it.
Everyone throughout history says it.
And he said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.
A direct quote taken from
An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America
by Mohamed Akram
“The process of settlement is a “Civilization-Jihadist Proecess” with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.“
These comments remind me of all the fear mongering done in north America against southern Europeans, as well as the anti catholic fears from not too long ago.
Send them BACK.
they need to use live ammo . send back in body bags send a message
invasion from a third world s**t hole .Canada should learn from this with is east Indians
Ali
“Why is the press sympathetic to this moorish invasion of Europe?”
Its not Europe. Cueta is on the African continent. That tiny village surrounded by fences does not belong there.
Yes there always is a military presence in Cueta because this has been a long term issue. It has no strategic value. Time for Spain to finish its departure from the Maghreb, several decades after it started it
Military response leaves 34 dead? They trampled each other going through the fence hours before the military even showed up. Why is the press sympathetic to this moorish invasion of Europe?
Not migrants. Invaders.
The manifestos appear to be the Akram Memorandum, and there was a second one.
“The memo discussed a grand strategy of “civilization-jihad,” describing the work of Islamic organizations in North America as a “grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within.”
I found it immediately on the FBI website and a host of others. The Holy Land Foundation Trials regarding a U.S-based Muslim charity (Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development) that was funding Palestinian Hamas terrorists groups, and a second trial saw 108 accounts of money laundering and terrorist funding.
@Anonymous search for Muslim Brotherhood manifesto
Anonymous
“The FBI uncovered the plan in the 1990’s Holy Land trials”
Funny how an internet shows nothing of the sort.
The latest in a long line of invasions of the west by Islamists. The FBI uncovered the plan in the 1990’s Holy Land trials when they discovered the Muslim Brotherhood manifesto which clearly outlined exactly what has happened in the western nations since 2015 when Merkel opened up the floodgates to millions of migrants, mostly from Islamic countries and mostly young men of military fighting age. Invasion, infiltration and subversion of western society is the plan which is coming to fruition thanks to those in the west who are the “Useful Idiots” being fooled into supporting the Islamis agenda.
Comment below “neighbouring country”
Learn how to use a map and read history. No it is not a neighboring country. Its a tiny beach village in someone else’s country, and surrounded by fences. It has no strategic value and cannot be secured. Its been a problem for decades. Spain and France withdrew from the Maghreb decades ago. Spain chose to keep this tiny little village, and all the issues that came with it.
Coordinated invasion of a neighbouring country by Islamics, that’s what it is. The AI guard dog doesn’t like me trying to post that.
Comment below from 11:19 “Not a single woman or child among them, just military aged men.”
Wrong;
“Many of those crossing the border from Morocco have been young, mainly men, although there are also women and children in the crowds and even babies.”
What is wrong with you? It wasn’t the military response that left 34 dead. No wonder people don’t trust the media. Unbelievable
So their own liberal gov’t is to blame. Why am I not surprised?
Europe what a joke it’s become, a cesspool, civilizational erasure
Not migrants. They are criminals that invaded a neighbouring cpuntry and they should face a firing squad.
Not a single woman or child among them, just military aged men.
Obviously orchestrated 😒
Invasions are generally met with military intervention
They should be more accurate in theor aim though
Don’t worry Spain. Canada will take 30000 of them.
I have to agree – what is taking place in is a global takeover by Islamists. This comes after the coordinated social media attack on Christianity a few years ago.
I understand. Aoejdjisnzndndjnz2874628
this is an invasion of islamic terrorists. Same as in England.
This has nothing to do with the current Spanish government. Cueta has been a problem for decades. Spain can’t have a tiny beach village surrounded by a fence in the middle of another country. There is no strategic value. Just abandon it and save yourself from all this trouble.
It’s trumps fault. There’s a connection somehow, somewhere I just know it. Come on global link this to trump will ya.
Spain has an idiot prime minister
Where can I read more about this massacre of civilians by the Spanish Military:
“60K migrants enter Spain’s Ceuta as military response leaves 34 dead”
🤣🤣 You suffer what you vote for
These guys have turned Spain into an Islamic ghetto. Given the ongoing opportunities presented to them by the woketard leftist Spanish politicians, the moors are once again invading Europe.
And Spain was upset with tourists spending money…
I thought the videos were AI at first. This is absolutely disgusting.