Moroccan law enforcement officers on Sunday, September 15, repelled hundreds of would-be irregular migrants, Moroccans and nationals of other African countries who were seeking to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, encouraged by calls on social networks.
The would-be migrants, including a number from sub-Saharan African countries, then retreated to hills in the border area. Earlier in the day, another group of hundreds of migrants had tried to reach Ceuta, but were blocked by security forces, according to local media.
A major security force was deployed this weekend in Fnideq following calls on social networks to go to Ceuta on Sunday, located on the northern coast of Morocco, around 300 kilometers from Rabat.
Several people arrested
Despite this deployment, hundreds of young Moroccans went to Fnideq and the police spent the whole night trying to catch them to send them back by bus to their hometowns, according to local media.
Sixty people, including minors, were arrested between September 9 and 11 in several Moroccan cities for “fabrication and dissemination of false information on social networks inciting the organization of collective illegal immigration operations,” according to a police source to AFP.
Ceuta and the Spanish enclave of Melilla, nearly 400 kilometres to the east, constitute the European Union’s only land borders on the African continent. The influx of migrants towards the border with Ceuta has intensified in recent weeks. Moroccan authorities foiled more than 11,300 attempts at irregular emigration there in August alone, according to the Interior Ministry.
In Melilla, more than 3,300 operations were aborted over the same period. Since the beginning of the year, 45,015 attempts have been foiled by Moroccan law enforcement and 177 criminal networks dismantled, according to the same source.
The main route for migrants to Spain, however, remains the dangerous Atlantic route to the Canaries from the northwest coast of Africa. More than 22,300 migrants arrived in the Canaries from January 1 to August 15, an increase of 126% year-on-year.
- BFMTV.com
