Moroccan police arrest more than 100 people as they attempt to enter Ceuta

Moroccan police have arrested 111 people as they tried to enter Spain’s north African territory of Ceuta, amid ⁠tightened security on both sides after social media posts ​called for another mass crossing.

The attempted crossing on Saturday came two weeks after more than 72,000 migrants surged into Ceuta, causing tensions within the EU and prompting anti-immigration rhetoric among far-right parties worldwide. At least 96 people died trying to ⁠reach European soil.

A source in Morocco’s interior ministry told news agency 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 teargas to disperse groups of migrants ⁠gathered on hills about 1.9 miles (3km) from the border, according to Spanish news agency EFE. Reuters later saw hundreds of police officers, some in riot gear and others in plainclothes, 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 streets. The city was calmer than in the days after the deadly crossing attempt on 30 July.

Madrid has ‌since installed a maritime barrier and deployed more than 500 additional police officers from mainland Spain, raising the total in Ceuta to more than 1,600. The interior ministry said the reinforcements would remain for as long as needed.

“We’ll continue to deploy whatever personnel are necessary to restore normality as soon as possible and prevent events like those of 30 July from happening again,” Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said on Thursday.

About 5,000 migrants remained in Ceuta, the minister added. Reuters saw hundreds sheltering from scorching heat under makeshift bamboo shelters on the urban beach of El Trampolin.

Grande-Marlaska said migrants who entered irregularly would not be allowed to stay in the territory, travel to mainland Spain or ‌obtain legal status, except in rare cases involving extreme vulnerability. Those without a right to remain would be returned to Morocco, he added.

Earlier this week, Rabat said it was monitoring “the circulation of social media posts and messages of unknown origin” calling for a mass crossing ​on 15 August, warning it would prosecute organisers and participants.

A Reuters witness saw reinforced security near the border, including police vans with wire shields and road checkpoints. Local media reported similar measures near Melilla, another Spanish territory in north Africa.

Authorities prevented several groups from boarding trains and buses to northern Morocco in cities such as Casablanca, Fez and Kenitra. However, witnesses told Reuters that some migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were bypassing security checkpoints by taking mountain routes towards Fnideq.

One witness said the schools in Fnideq had been turned into accommodation for security forces deployed near the ⁠border.