A Spanish police report seen by AFP says Moroccan security forces showed total permissiveness during the migrant rush into Ceuta, with a border deployment clearly smaller than usual. Separately, El Español published an assessment in which Spain's National Centre for Immigration and Borders held that July's mass entry was guided by Moroccan security forces; Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska asked police leadership to examine it. Pedro Sánchez had said no intelligence service pointed to Moroccan involvement.
A Spanish police report seen by AFP on Wednesday says Moroccan security forces showed total permissiveness during the migrant rush into Ceuta, Spain's territory in north Africa. The document says the police deployment around the border was clearly smaller than usual. It also cites migrants who described the passive attitude of Moroccan officers as tens of thousands of people crossed into Ceuta.[2]
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska asked police leadership to examine an assessment published by the online newspaper El Español. In it, Spain's National Centre for Immigration and Borders held that July's mass entry into Ceuta was guided by Moroccan security forces and served aims beyond migration. The minister wrote that any such information should have been made available immediately to the National Security Council. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told Cadena SER on Monday that no intelligence service with which his government normally cooperates had pointed to Moroccan involvement, and blamed Israel, Russia and the far right for spreading disinformation about the crossing.[1]
About 70,000 people entered the enclave of 84,000 residents on 30 and 31 July by swimming or on foot, and most returned within hours. According to the national government, around 5,000 people, including 1,200 minors, remain in Ceuta weeks later, and many are sleeping in the street. The government has committed 309 million euros in aid and 6,000 reception places. Italy imposed temporary checks on travellers from Spain after the crossing, and both governments extended those measures into mid-September. On Wednesday thousands marched in Madrid and more than 200 other towns, blaming Sánchez for the handling of the crisis; the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces organised the marches, which the Popular Party and Vox promoted. Ceuta's regional leader Juan Jesús Vivas said what happened was a violation of Spain's territorial integrity rather than a migratory crisis.[1], [2]
