I confess to never having heard of Ceuta until this morning.
Located on the North African coast directly across the Strait of Gibraltar from mainland Spain, Ceuta holds a unique geopolitical status as Spanish territory on the African continent. Because Ceuta is part of Spain and the European Union, its 8.4-kilometer border with Morocco fortified with double-fenced wire barriers, sensors, and naval patrols represents one of Europe’s most heavily guarded external frontiers. The city periodically sees diplomatic and humanitarian strain during surge events, as migrants from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa attempt to reach EU territory by land checkpoints, scaling border barriers, or swimming around coastal breakwaters.
For the past few days it seems it’s not so heavily fortified as tens of thousands of migrants have been pouring into it, from the BBC:
About 49,000 migrants have crossed into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco in the last 24 hours, officials estimate.
Videos and images showed thousands of people swimming into the city on Thursday, while local media reported crossings continuing overnight.
Officials say at least 18 people have died while trying to reach the territory in recent days.
This comes after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled this month that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla, another Spanish enclave, cannot be summarily returned to Morocco.
The astonishing estimation by Spanish officials suggests the number of migrants who entered into Ceuta in the last day or so could be more than half of the population of the city – which sits at around 83,600 according to the latest local figures.
Officials say at least 7,000 of those who crossed illegally into the territory in the last 24 hours are minors.
Italy is calling for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen free travel agreement as they are concerned that the migrants will make their way to mainland Spain and on to other parts of Europe. There are also accusations that the Moroccan government is facilitating the influx.
Obviously the migrants have got it into their head that all they need to do is reach the city and then they will get automatic entry into the EU. It’s all a bit of a mess and is likely going to turn violent and become a bit of a humanitarian disaster.
Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
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