Morocco stops migration attempt into Spanish enclave of Ceuta

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Moroccan security forces stopped groups of people who sought to force their way across the border into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta following a call on social networks for a mass migration attempt, authorities said.

Some attempted to breach a border fence that has long been a flashpoint for sporadic migration tensions, but none successfully made it into Spain, the Spanish Interior Ministry said Monday. It said Spanish and Moroccan security efforts over recent days ″allowed the situation to be brought under control."

Online messages in recent days had called for people to head for Ceuta on Sunday to cross the border into Europe. Videos posted by local networks showed groups of people in the hills around the Moroccan border town of Fnideq, and a heightened Moroccan security presence, including helicopters.

Moroccan authorities also arrested 60 people suspected of inciting a mass migration attempt on social networks, Moroccan intelligence agency DGSN said in a Facebook post.

On Monday, scores of security personnel were deployed to the area. Groups of people, who had heeded the calls on social media to breach the border fence and reach Spain, dispersed. Still, some attempted to cross but were thwarted by security forces that maintained a strong presence on land and sea along the border at Ceuta, activists said.

Many of those who headed to the border on Sunday from Fnideq and beyond were Moroccans of all ages, including minors, said Achraf Mimoun, a Moroccan human rights activist. The groups also included migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, Algeria and other places, who have lived in the region, waiting for the opportunity to cross into Europe, Mimoun said.

“This is not the first anonymous invitation promoted on social media networking sites,” Mimoun said. Such campaigns were disseminated before, and there are “social and economic reasons” behind large groups of people attempting to breach the border fence at any cost, Mimoun said.

“Families encourage their children to immigrate in search of better opportunities because some who acted on previous calls (to do so) have succeeded,” the rights activist added.

Ceuta and Melilla — two tiny Spanish territories in North Africa bordering the Mediterranean — have long been targeted by migrants and refugees seeking better lives in Europe. Many attempt to climb over barbed wire fences encircling the autonomous cities or reaching the exclaves by sea.

Nationwide, Moroccan security forces stopped more than 45,000 migration attempts from January to early September, according to the Moroccan Interior Ministry. In August alone, more than 11,000 migration attempts were prevented in the region around Ceuta and another 3,000 in the area around Melilla, it said in a statement.

Last month, thousands of migrants attempted to cross into Ceuta, including hundreds of young people who tried to swim their way around controls, according to Spanish authorities.

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A previous version of this story was corrected to show that the figures for aborted migration attempts around Ceuta and Melilla are for August only, not the whole year.