Saturday crackdown outside the Ceuta fence
Moroccan security forces detained 294 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa near the Ceuta border on Saturday, along with 61 Moroccan nationals accused of helping people cross, according to the Moroccan state broadcaster Medi 1 TV. The arrests came two weeks after a mass crossing attempt in which at least 90 people died, a figure rights groups put higher. An estimated 5,000 to 8,000 migrants remain stranded in Ceuta. Spain's interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said migrants who entered irregularly would not be allowed to stay in the enclave, travel to mainland Spain or obtain legal status except in rare cases. A senior Moroccan diplomat said more than 20,000 Moroccan security personnel are deployed along the Ceuta border each day. The Saturday haul therefore sits inside a wider containment posture: large daily Moroccan force levels outside the enclave, a hard Spanish line on status and onward movement inside it, and a still-crowded city after a deadly mass attempt only two weeks earlier.[1]