Moroccan security forces arrest hundreds of migrants trying to reach Ceuta

Moroccan security forces have arrested hundreds of migrants trying to reach the Spanish exclave of Ceuta by land and sea as authorities tightened security along the border following calls for a new mass crossing.

Moroccan state broadcaster Medi 1 TV said 294 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were arrested on Saturday while attempting to enter Ceuta. Authorities also arrested 61 Moroccans accused of facilitating the migration attempts, the broadcaster reported.

The latest attempt comes two weeks after more than 72,000 would-be migrants, driven by poverty and misinformation, rushed towards Ceuta in one of the deadliest migration crises to hit the region. At least 90 people died on both sides of the border, according to official numbers, while human rights groups reported higher figures.

The attempted crossings followed a surge in social media posts calling on people to make their way to Ceuta, a Spanish city on Morocco’s northern coast.

In response, Moroccan and Spanish authorities beefed up security presence in the area.

On Sunday, ‌hundreds of migrants staged a protest on a popular urban beach, urging Spanish authorities to ⁠grant them asylum instead of sending them back to Morocco.

They were among the estimated 5,000 to 8,000 who remained in Ceuta after the mass border crossing two weeks ago.

With the city’s resources overstretched, most migrants were living in precarious conditions on Trampolin beach or the city’s outskirts while awaiting a chance to journey on to continental Europe.

“We’re sleeping next to ⁠the sea, with cold and bad smells. We’re suffering a lot,” Ayoub Elarroud from Morocco’s Tetouan told the Reuters news agency, adding that police were blocking them from going to the city centre.

The protesters held up Spanish flags and banners reading, “We don’t want to go back to Morocco” and “We are also human”, while chanting slogans such as “We’re tired” or “We need a solution”.

Earlier this week, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said migrants who had entered irregularly would not be allowed to stay in the exclave, travel to mainland Spain or obtain legal status, except in rare cases involving extreme vulnerability.

A senior Moroccan diplomat previously told The Associated Press news agency that more than 20,000 Moroccan security personnel are deployed along the border with Ceuta each day, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Thousands of migrants from across Africa and beyond travel to Morocco each year, fleeing conflict, poverty and instability, and seeking a route into Europe.

Many attempt to reach Ceuta or Melilla, another Spanish exclave on Morocco’s northern coast, hoping eventually to make their way to mainland Spain for better economic opportunities.