Moroccan police on Saturday detained dozens of people who attempted to cross the border into the Spanish North African exclave of Ceuta.
It comes two weeks after around 72,000 migrants surged into Ceuta, which drove a wedge between Spain and other EU countries.
“This is a routine operation aimed at preventing attempted irregular migration” toward Ceuta, an official with knowledge of the intervention, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP.
More than 100 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, were stopped in or around Fnideq, the Moroccan city across the border from Ceuta, a security source told Reuters.
Meanwhile, Morocco’s Le360 media outlet reported that 294 people had been detained.
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Calls on social media for mass crossings
Earlier this week, Rabat said it was monitoring “the circulation of social media posts and messages of unknown origin” calling for a mass crossing on August 15, and warned that both organizers and participants would face prosecution.
Eyewitnesses said there was a heavy Moroccan security presence around Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish exclave to the east.
Numerous checkpoints were set up, with patrol boats monitoring the coast and water cannons stationed at the border, according to Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE.
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Spanish media ordered to leave Fnideq
Spain’s EFE news agency and RTVE said a representative from Morocco’s Interior Ministry had ordered their journalists to leave Fnideq — known in Spanish as Castillejos — immediately without any explanation. The Moroccan official stated that he was “following instructions.”
EFE president Miguel Angel Oliver urged Moroccan authorities to respect the free, “responsible and rigorous practice of journalism.”
RTVE president Jose Pablo Lopez also demanded “full guarantees and the utmost respect” from Moroccan authorities so that his journalists could “freely practice their profession anywhere in the border region.”
“The expulsion of our professionals from Castillejos represents a grave obstacle to press freedom and the right to information,” Lopez said in a statement.
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Spain increases security after Ceuta border surge
Two weeks ago, around 72,000 people crossed into Ceuta over a few days, though most have since been returned to Morocco.
Some 100 people had died during the border surge.
Madrid has since beefed up security in the exclave, installing a maritime barrier and deploying more than 500 additional police from mainland Spain.
The Interior Ministry said they would remain in place as long as needed.
“We’ll continue to deploy whatever personnel are necessary to restore normality as soon as possible and prevent events like those of July 30 from happening again,” Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on Thursday.
Edited by: Karl Sexton
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