The situation is exceptional. Since Wednesday 11 September, around 4,000 Moroccans – including nearly 150 minors – suspected of having tried to enter the Spanish enclave of Ceuta illegally have been arrested or returned, according to the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior, while messages have been circulating on social networks. It has called on the population to return to this territory on Sunday 15 September.
Although hundreds of people gathered near the border were pushed back by police that day, most were arrested earlier, in the surrounding towns of M’diq, Tetouan or Tangier, community activists say. Officially, no one managed to cross to the Spanish side, but according to witnesses, about twenty individuals from the town of El-Jadida, 500 kilometres to the south, did.
The significant presence of Moroccan citizens raises questions, while these attempts at forced entry have so far involved people from sub-Saharan Africa. On 17 and 18 May 2021, between 8,000 and 12,000 Moroccans, according to estimates, entered Ceuta in the context of a diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Madrid; Morocco then criticised Spain for hosting the leader of the Sahrawi separatists, Brahim Ghali, on its soil for treatment. “But these departures benefited from the tacit complicity of the Moroccan authorities. »says researcher Ali Zoubeidi, who specializes in migration issues and is conducting an on-site study.
Nothing comparable today, says the latter, who sees in the episode of September 15 the sign of a new way of operating: “It is no longer a question of clandestine activity in small groups, sometimes with the help of smugglers, as the Moroccans used to do, but of mass mobilization and open confrontation with the police. »
Diving suit
Although it is not new, the use of social media seems to be more central than ever in the planning of these crossing attempts. Entire communities are organized, by city or neighborhood, through groups on WhatsApp or Facebook.
Many observers consider the influence of TikTok, where prospective immigrants document their experience, to be considerable. Frequently cited in the Spanish press, the example of Chaimae El Grini illustrates the full weight of this social network, which is very popular in Morocco. Published on August 21 on her personal account, the photo of this 19-year-old Moroccan already has more than 4 million views. Originally from Martil, 35 kilometers south of Ceuta, she appears there all smiles in a diving suit, with wet hair and a thumbs up, after five hours of bathing at the end of which she arrived at the enclave.
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