A Moroccan man in his thirties was fatally stabbed on Thursday morning inside a relative’s home in Ceuta. A woman has been arrested, but police are still working to establish the exact circumstances of the dispute.
Pedro Sánchez now acknowledges that Moroccan forces allowed migrants to enter Ceuta for ten hours on 30 July. However, the Spanish prime minister still refuses to accuse Rabat of organizing the mass arrival of more than 70,000 people.
Spain has just modified the exceptional measures put in place in Ceuta following the mass crossings from Morocco. A new decree maintains the possibility of mobilizing the army’s surveillance, transport and communications resources, but changes several facilities that may be used.
Moroccans who have completed their prison sentences in Algeria are reportedly still being held in administrative detention while awaiting their return to the kingdom. More than 800 cases have now been recorded, and the situation has officially reached the Moroccan Parliament.
Plainclothes men allegedly directed Moroccan police officers on the ground during the 72,000 crossings into Sebta at the end of July. This is one of the most explosive conclusions of a report by the Spanish National Police now submitted to the courts.
Italy checked more than 180,000 travelers arriving from Spain in August after the Ceuta crisis. In the end, only 31 people were turned away at the Italian border, including eight Moroccan nationals. Rome has nevertheless just extended its checks.
Spanish services had detected up to 2,000 people planning to cross and mobilization on social media. Yet 72,000 people ultimately reached Ceuta, driven by viral videos showing a border that had become almost impossible to control.
Algerians now account for 42% of irregular arrivals recorded on the Western Mediterranean route to Spain, compared with 22% for Moroccans. This reversal has been confirmed by the International Organization for Migration.
Thousands of migrants were waiting to receive their meal on a beach in Ceuta when clashes broke out. Spanish police charged the crowd and used tear gas, causing hundreds of people to flee toward a road and a breakwater.
Siraj is only three years old. After reaching Ceuta by swimming with his parents and brother, this young Moroccan has lived for 26 days under a tent, without toilets, amid the abandoned warehouses of the El Tarajal industrial zone.
Pedro Sánchez is convening an extraordinary meeting of the National Security Council on Tuesday devoted to Ceuta. The Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs ministries, intelligence services and the chief of the armed forces will meet after the migration crisis originating in Morocco at the end of July.
Several studies published within Spain’s Ministry of Defence environment analyse migration flows as a possible instrument of pressure in relations between states. Three works devoted to Morocco, hybrid threats and Spanish strategy place migration crises at the heart of Madrid’s security considerations.