Migrants from Morocco pour into Spanish border territory

Spanish military units are being deployed to reinforce police in the city of Ceuta after migrants in Morocco broke through fences, overwhelming the local force.Spanish state television TVE reported that 2,000 to 3,000 people crossed. Reuters was not immediately able to confirm that report.Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain, on the North African coast, and has been the scene of previous mass migration events in recent years.Video footage showed hundreds of migrants swimming or floating on inner tubes from the Moroccan side, and others breaking through a gate on land and running into the city.Migrants run and cheer as they cross on foot into Ceuta from Morocco. (Reuters: Faro TV)"It was very tough. The police tried to stop us. But our will and determination allowed us to come here," migrant Jadid Zacaria, his hair and shirt still wet from the ocean, said in an interview as migrants streamed through a border gate nearby.Nine people were found dead, local authorities said, adding to a toll of 60 migrants who have died attempting to cross into Ceuta in recent months.The Spanish government said 200 specialised police officers and 60 troops had arrived from the Spanish mainland to reinforce the enclave's regular forces.The scene was reminiscent of 2021, when about 10,000 people from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa, many of them minors, entered the enclave of 85,000 people in days.Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will travel to Ceuta today with Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska for meetings with security forces and local authorities, his office said.Morocco's Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.'Entering from the sea'Earlier, a Guardia Civil spokesperson said migrants were "massively entering from the sea" around the Tarajal breakwater, a border seawall that migrants can swim around to enter Ceuta.The spokesperson could not estimate the number of migrants but said police were overwhelmed.Many local shops were shuttered.Enrique Serrano, who runs a women's clothing store in central Ceuta, said business owners were organising self-defence because they believed police resources would be insufficient.Migrants cross into the North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco by attempting to swim, according to Spain's Guardia Civil. (Reuters)"I'm not opening this afternoon because the situation is extremely tense … The first thing I have to do is protect my business and my family," he said.Ceuta and Melilla — another Spanish autonomous city located in North Africa — have the European Union's only land borders with Africa.Both cities periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach Europe.Local government seeks state of emergencySpain's Socialist government stands out in Europe for its pro-migrant stance, and it has recently launched a program to provide legal status for some 500,000 undocumented migrants, triggering an influx of applications double that number.Right-wing parties criticised the drive, arguing it would attract more migrants to Spain, and were quick to blame Mr Sanchez for allowing the situation in Ceuta to reach crisis proportions.Conservative opposition People's Party leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo said in a post on X: "The situation in Ceuta is desperate. The government cannot look the other way… because we are facing a national security crisis."Spanish military stands guard at the border after thousands of migrants reportedly crossed into Ceuta. (Reuters: Fabian Bimmer)Ceuta Mayor Juan Jesus Vivas had urged the national government to declare an emergency over the mass arrivals.Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on X that the images from Ceuta showed that Mr Sanchez's migration policy was "misguided".A source told Reuters that Italy was exploring reintroducing border controls for people travelling from Spain to Italy, which normally falls in the European Union's passport-free Schengen zone.'An explosion'Earlier this month, Spain's Supreme Court ruled that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla could not be summarily returned under the enclaves' special "border rejection" regime, which allows authorities to immediately send back people caught crossing the border fences.Spain's government said it was the "exploitation by mafias and criminal organisations" of this ruling that had triggered the migrant surge, not its bid to give legal status to some undocumented migrants."It has been a slow trickle since the Supreme Court's ruling, but today has been an explosion," the Guardia Civil spokesperson told Reuters.The Interior Ministry said it was working closely with Morocco to address the surge in irregular arrivals, having prevented thousands of migrants from illegally entering Ceuta in recent days.Migrant rights activist Zakaria Zarroqui said people were still flocking to the adjacent Moroccan city of Fnideq in an attempt to cross into Ceuta and the situation was still out of control.Mauricio Valiente, director of the Spanish Commission for Refugees, which has lawyers working in Ceuta, said the migrants crossing into the enclave were of Moroccan and sub-Saharan origin, including families.Reuters