CEUTA, Spain (AP) — Thousands of migrants streamed into the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta from Morocco on Thursday, prompting local officials to call on Spain to declare a national emergency and send the army to restore the frontier.
Spain's interior ministry said it would guarantee the safety of citizens and the integrity of the nation's border, but that the government could not declare a national emergency over migration concerns.
Video footage
showed crowds of people, mainly Moroccans, walking around the breakwaters at Tarajal beach onto local roads. While the majority appeared to be young men, there were also families with women and children. “Viva España!” some shouted to a freelance photographer working for The Associated Press.
Spain is a main point of arrival into Europe for migrants seeking better economic opportunities or an escape from violence in their home countries.
The escalation at the border between Spain and Morocco comes after a surge in migrants attempting to reach the small exclave, mainly by swimming.
The scenes of people streaming across the frontier recall the border crisis of May 2021 when more than 8,000 migrants poured into Ceuta in just two days.
Juan Jesús Vivas, the head of Ceuta's regional government, called for the national government to declare a national emergency on grounds of national security, asking for more police and for the army to be deployed on the border.
Vivas said the additional police and soldiers would be necessary “to guarantee the inviolability of the frontier and citizen safety.”
He had warned on Wednesday that migrant reception centers were overwhelmed with hundreds of people sleeping on the streets.
The interior ministry said that legislation covering a declaration of national emergencies does not consider migration flows as a risk to national security.
Government administrations are “coordinating to respond with speed and efficacy to the situation in Ceuta,” it said.
The ministry said the Moroccan government was “closely cooperating” with Spain to handle the situation, saying that Moroccan police are stopping “numerous people” who are trying to cross the border.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska will travel to Ceuta, located on the northern African coast, on Friday to evaluate the situation.
