Moroccan security forces on Sunday 15 September turned back hundreds of illegal immigrants, Moroccans and nationals of other African countries, who were trying to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, encouraged by calls on social networks, according to an AFP photographer.
These migrants, many of them mostly Moroccan minors, headed in the afternoon towards the border post in the Moroccan town of Fnideq, neighbouring Ceuta, before being expelled by the police. The would-be exiles, including several from sub-Saharan African countries, then retreated to the hills in the border area. Hours earlier, another group of hundreds of migrants tried to reach Ceuta, before being blocked by security forces, according to local media.
The body of a migrant of undisclosed nationality was also recovered on Sunday on Fnideq beach by Moroccan civil protection, according to the same sources. Confirmation from the authorities was not immediately available.
A large security presence was deployed this weekend in Castillejos following calls on social media to arrive on Sunday in Ceuta, located on the northern coast of Morocco, about 300 kilometres from Rabat. Despite this deployment, hundreds of young Moroccans headed to Fnideq and the police spent the whole night trying to capture them and send them back by bus to their home villages, according to local media reports.
Intensification in recent weeks
Sixty people, including minors, were arrested between 9 and 11 September 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, almost 400 kilometres further east, constitute the only land borders of the European Union on the African continent. The influx of migrants towards the border with Ceuta has intensified in recent weeks. Moroccan authorities thwarted more than 11,300 attempts at illegal migration in August alone, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
On the Melilla side, more than 3,300 operations were aborted during the same period. Since the beginning of the year, Moroccan law enforcement has thwarted 45,015 attempts and 177 criminal networks have been dismantled, according to the same source.
However, the main route for migrants to Spain remains the dangerous Atlantic route to the Canary Islands from the north-west coast of Africa. More than 22,300 migrants have arrived in the Canary Islands since 1998.Ahem From January to August 15, a year-on-year increase of 126%.
