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Thousands break through border between Morocco and Spanish territory
Thousands break through border between Morocco and Spanish territory
Thousands of migrants streamed into the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta from Morocco on Thursday, prompting local officials to call on Spain to declare a national emergency and send the army to restore the frontier.
www.ctvnews.ca
Spain got a major issue on their hands. This could get larger and uglier.
Thousands of migrants streamed into the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta from Morocco on Thursday, prompting local officials to call on Spain to declare a national emergency and send the army to restore the frontier.
“The situation is absolute chaos,” said Rachid Sbihi, head of the association that represents Spain’s Civil Guard officers in Ceuta, who police the border. “It’s not possible to give precise numbers, but there are thousands of migrants crossing,” he said, adding that the border had “totally collapsed.”
Video footage showed crowds of people, mainly Moroccans, walking around the breakwaters at Tarajal beach onto local roads. While the majority appeared to be young men, there were also families with women and children. “Viva España!” some shouted to a freelance photographer working for The Associated Press. It was not immediately clear what prompted so many migrants to cross to Ceuta.
Ceuta authorities had previously linked the spike to a Spanish Supreme Court decision earlier this month that migrants who arrive by sea cannot be immediately pushed back across the border without due process, unlike those who cross into Spain by land — by climbing over the border fence, for example.
The scenes of people streaming across the frontier recall the border crisis of May 2021 when more than 8,000 migrants poured into Ceuta in just two days.
Thousands of migrants enter tiny Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco
Territory’s president calls for help from Spanish government as crowds of people arrive by sea or on foot
www.theguardian.com
Spain’s enclave Ceuta raises alarm as thousands cross border from Morocco
Estimates suggest up to 2,000 have entered the Spanish territory in recent days in an attempt to reach Europe.
