Ceuta asks Spain to declare emergency over Morocco migrants

· DW

Authorities in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta have asked Madrid to declare a national emergency and offer military assistance. Footage showed crowds of people walking around the breakwaters to gain entry to the territory.

Officials in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta on the northwestern tip of Africa on Thursday asked the government in Madrid to declare a national emergency and send the army to help secure its border with Morocco. 

The call came as video footage showed crowds of people trying to walk around the breakwaters separating Moroccan and Spanish territory or otherwise scale the border fence. 

The AP news agency showed video footage shot by a freelance photographer of crowds reaching a beach and roads in the exclave, while Spanish news agency EFE reported that hundreds had climbed over protective barriers at places and a time when a police presence was not on hand. 

In recent days, rescue parties had noted increased numbers of people trying to swim around the border checks. 

The scenes were reminiscent of a similar flashpoint at the border crossing in May of 2021 when more than 8,000 people entered the territory in just two days. 

The head of the regional government said its migrant reception center known as CETI had nearly a thousand people waiting outside. Here you see a much smaller crowd outside the facility on Sunday. [FILE: July 26, 2026.Image: Antonio Sempere/JNA Press/Sipa USA/picture alliance

What did the regional government head say? 

Juan Jesus Vivas, head of the Ceuta regional government, called for the Spanish government in Madrid to declare an emergency on grounds of national security, asking for more police and for the army to be deployed on the border.

"Yesterday, I spoke out to warn of the extreme gravity of the migration crisis we are enduring," he wrote online. "Today, mere hours later, the situation is even more critical: another night of mass arrivals, nearly a thousand people waiting outside the CETI [Temporary Migrant Reception Center], our reseources completely overwhelmed, and another live lost at sea." 

He said that the small city was facing "a humanitarian and social emergency" of national proportions.

"We cannot face this pressure alone — pressure that has resulted in the arrival of between 1,500 and 2,000 people in just 10 days, equivalent to 2% of our population." 

He wrote that "with every passing hour, the situation becomes more difficult." 

This is a developing story. More to follow... 

Edited by: Sean Sinico

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