Spain tightens border security in Ceuta after influx of migrants

At the end of July, more than 70,000 people had already tried to cross the border from Morocco to the Spanish exclave. Almost 100 people were killed.

Security forces on Fnideq beach

After the influx of many migrants, Spain had already set up a sea barrier and sent more than 500 additional police officers from the mainland. The Interior Ministry said they would stay as long as the situation required. "We will continue to use all necessary forces to restore normality as quickly as possible and to prevent events like those of July 30 from happening again," Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters in Ceuta on Thursday. The minister said that around 5,000 migrants were still in Ceuta. The authorities have started checking the adults. Spain will return those without the right to remain in Morocco. The majority of migrants had already voluntarily returned to Morocco shortly after the stampede.

On the Moroccan side of the border, dozens of black-clad security forces monitored Fnideq beach on Friday evening, from where many migrants had set off for Ceuta. According to local media reports, security forces have been reinforced and barbed wire fences have been erected at the borders with Ceuta and the second Spanish exclave Melilla. Earlier this week, the government in Rabat said it was monitoring "the spread of social media posts and messages of unknown origin" calling for a mass stampede on August 15. She warned she would prosecute organizers and participants.