Ceuta returns to relative calm after border surge as most migrants head back to Morocco
Ceuta looked calmer over the weekend after tens of thousands of migrants crossed into the Spanish enclave, with most having returned to Morocco by Sunday. Spanish authorities confirmed at least 72 migrant deaths during the crisis.
Over the weekend, Ceuta appeared less tense, although the events of the past week remained on residents' minds. Of the roughly 60,000 migrants who entered the Spanish territory in North Africa — swimming, climbing and later rushing across the border — most had made their way back to Morocco by Sunday. Others reportedly tried to stay by blending into the local population. Spanish civil guard vessels continued searching for bodies in the waters near the urban beach where the mass crossing occurred days earlier.
Shops reopened and the usual mix of residents and tourists filled open-air terraces, restaurants and cafes in the city of 84,000. Yet the enclave, which prides itself on being home to four cultures, was still dealing with the aftermath, and locals were divided over what caused the influx and who is to blame.
At least 72 migrants died, including some who drowned and others killed in a stampede while trying to cross a breakwater, Spanish authorities said on Sunday. The humanitarian crisis triggered by the sudden surge has revived debate about immigration in Europe and beyond.
Mohamad Abdelkader Driss, a 44-year-old waiter at a fried fish restaurant, said the young men were not to blame. “If you open the border, of course everyone comes in, but the young men aren't to blame. The authorities are responsible,” he said. Some migrants who returned to Morocco described a border that was effectively open, with authorities doing little as thousands crossed. Abdelkader acknowledged that those who breached the border behaved relatively well. “It could have been much worse,” he said.
Over the weekend, far-right, anti-immigrant Spanish politicians and well-known right-wing influencers arrived in the city, prompting counterprotests that included members of Ceuta's large Muslim population, many of Moroccan descent. On Saturday evening, Alvise Pérez, a far-right Spanish politician and MEP, called for migrants to be expelled, but was confronted by an angry crowd. He had to take shelter in a bar until police escorted him away. Twenty-year-old student Noor Ahmed, a Ceuta resident, criticized the visit as opportunistic, saying they were trying to exploit the humanitarian crisis.
On Sunday, Vox leader Santiago Abascal visited Ceuta and slammed the Spanish government over the surge, calling it “an invasion”. He said the frontiers of Ceuta and Melilla were the walls of Spain's home and homeland, not being protected by a “corrupt and traitorous government”. Eva Barrientos, a logistics company employee, came to Saturday's protest out of curiosity. She said she was confident something similar would happen again and questioned the loyalty of some foreign-born residents, claiming there was “an enemy within” and that some were more loyal to Morocco than the country they lived in.
Pope Leo XIV said Sunday he was “following with concern the alarming situation in Ceuta”, asking God for solutions of peace, stability and justice. Migration has been one of his priorities, which he underlined during a recent visit to the Canary Islands, one of Europe's main migrant entry ports.
