60,000 storm Ceuta as Italy and France move to check Spain's borders
The mass breach of Spain's North African enclave has killed at least 18 people and prompted Rome and Paris to reinstate border controls, with Italy calling for Madrid's suspension from Schengen.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez flew to Ceuta on Friday with Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska and military reinforcements, a day after an estimated 60,000 people crossed irregularly from Morocco into the tiny Spanish enclave. At least 18 people died, many by drowning and others in a stampede at the breakwater fence, as the Guardia Civil lost control of the border.
The scale of the influx overwhelmed a city of roughly 85,000 residents. Juan Jesus Vivas, head of the autonomous city government, said the figure made absorption "absolutely impossible." Just 24 hours earlier, his office had estimated arrivals at between 1,500 and 2,000.
By Friday, the city's small migrant reception centre was completely overwhelmed, and correspondents from EFE and AP observed some arrivals attempting to return to Morocco. Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local association representing Civil Guard officers, said people were still entering and that reinforcements were limited to treating the injured and providing humanitarian aid.
Traffickers and a misread court ruling
Sánchez blamed the surge on trafficking networks that deliberately distorted a recent Spanish Supreme Court decision. The court ruled in early July that immediate returns of migrants crossing illegally did not apply to those arriving by sea, but the case concerned crossings of the Strait of Gibraltar or the Mediterranean, not people swimming around a land border.
"What has emerged from our talks with Moroccan authorities is that trafficking mafias took a self-serving interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling," Sánchez said, adding that the rumours had "spread like wildfire in recent hours." He described the crossings as a "violation of Spain's territorial integrity." Authorities said they were still investigating what triggered the sudden rush after a slower build-up earlier in the week.
Schengen fault lines open
The political consequences extended well beyond Ceuta's shores. French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced he had ordered immediate reinforcement of controls at the Spanish border and activated France's Rapid Intervention Border Force. Italy took a sharper line: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on Thursday for the "suspension" of Spain's Schengen membership.
On Friday, Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen, a member of the right-wing populist Finns Party, endorsed that demand. "Spain has completely failed to protect the Schengen Area's external border from infiltration. This cannot continue. All European countries must support Meloni's proposal," she wrote.
The episode revives uncomfortable memories of May 2021, when more than 8,000 people entered Ceuta irregularly over several days. Thursday's single-day figure dwarfs that total and raises urgent questions about how the EU manages its southern external frontier, and whether one member state's border failure can trigger cascading controls across the bloc.
