Moroccan Police Arrest More Than 100 People Attempting to Enter Ceuta

Moroccan police arrested 111 people as they attempted to enter the Spanish North African territory of Ceuta amid heightened security measures on both sides, after social media posts called for another mass border crossing.

Saturday’s attempted crossing came two weeks after more than 72,000 migrants poured into Ceuta, sparking tensions within the EU and fueling anti-immigration rhetoric among far-right parties worldwide. At least 96 people died while trying to reach European soil.

A source at Morocco’s Interior Ministry told Reuters that those detained included 109 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and two Moroccan citizens arrested in or around Fnideq, the Moroccan city near Ceuta.

Moroccan police used tear gas to disperse groups of migrants gathered on hills about 3 km from the border, according to the Spanish news agency EFE. Reuters later saw hundreds of police officers, some in riot gear and others in civilian clothes, returning from the hills outside Fnideq.

EFE and Spanish state broadcaster TVE said Morocco’s Interior Ministry ordered their journalists to leave Fnideq immediately, without providing an explanation. In Ceuta, Spanish soldiers guarded supermarkets while police patrolled the main roads. The city was calmer than in the days following the deadly border-crossing attempt on July 30.

Since then, Madrid has installed a maritime barrier and deployed more than 500 additional police officers from mainland Spain, bringing the total in Ceuta to more than 1,600. The Interior Ministry said the reinforcements would remain for as long as necessary.