Morocco stops would-be migrants trying to reach Spanish exclave

FNIDEQ, Morocco: Moroccan police pushed back hundreds of people on Sunday who headed towards the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, an AFP photographer said, after social media posts encouraged crossing attempts.

Ceuta and its sister territory of Melilla, wedged on the North African kingdom´s Mediterranean coast, have long been a magnet for irregular migrants, being the only European Union territories that share a land border with the African continent.

On Sunday, hundreds of people, including Moroccans and migrants from other parts of Africa as well as some minors, headed towards the village of Fnideq, which abuts Ceuta, before being sent back by Moroccan police, the AFP photographer said.

Local media reported another mass crossing attempt earlier on Sunday, similarly foiled by Moroccan police.

Security forces increased their deployment around Fnideq over the weekend following calls on social media to attempt the crossing into Ceuta on Sunday.

According to local media, hundreds of young Moroccans still managed to reach Fnideq, with police apprehending them during the night and sending them back to their hometowns elsewhere in Morocco.

A police source told AFP that 60 people were arrested between Monday and Wednesday for “fabricating and disseminating false information on social media” that encouraged “the organisation of collective illegal immigration operations”.

The Moroccan interior ministry has said that in August alone, authorities blocked more than 11,300 attempts to cross into Ceuta and some 3,300 into Melilla.

The main route out of Morocco for irregular migrants hoping to reach Spain remains by sea.

More than 22,300 migrant arrivals were registered this year by August 15 in the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, marking a 126-percent increase from 2023.In the first eight months this year, Morocco stopped 45,015 people from illegally migrating to Europe, according to interior ministry figures.

Last month, hundreds of migrants took advantage of a thick mist to swim to Ceuta, Spanish police said.

Tighter surveillance of Morocco’s northern borders has prompted an increasing number of migrants to try the riskier and longer Atlantic route to the Canary Islands.