{"id":146704,"date":"2026-08-16T08:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T08:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/146704\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T08:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T08:45:10","slug":"morocco-arrests-more-than-100-people-near-ceuta-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/146704\/","title":{"rendered":"Morocco arrests more than 100 people near Ceuta border"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moroccan police arrested at least 111 people attempting to reach the Spanish territory of Ceuta on Saturday after calls circulated on social media for another mass border crossing. Authorities in Morocco and Spain deployed security forces around the border following the arrival of tens of thousands of people<\/a> in Ceuta two weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

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A Moroccan Interior Ministry source told Reuters<\/a> that 109 of those detained were migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and two were Moroccan citizens.<\/p>\n

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The arrests took place in and around Fnideq, a coastal town about three kilometres from the Ceuta border.<\/p>\n

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Groups travelled through hills outside Fnideq in an apparent effort to avoid security checkpoints. Spanish news agency EFE<\/a> reported that Moroccan police used tear gas to disperse people gathered in the area.<\/p>\n

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Reuters later saw hundreds of Moroccan officers returning from the hills, including police in riot equipment and plain-clothes personnel.<\/p>\n

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The official arrest figure differed from figures reported by Moroccan media. Local outlet Le360<\/a> put the number at 294, including 46 Moroccans. Authorities had not confirmed that higher figure.<\/p>\n

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Morocco increased security after online messages called for a mass crossing on 15 August. The government said earlier in the week that it was monitoring posts of unknown origin and warned that organisers and participants faced prosecution.<\/p>\n

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Moroccan forces deployed police, military personnel, naval vessels and drones near the border. Authorities also established checkpoints and prevented some groups from taking trains and buses towards northern Morocco.<\/p>\n

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Spain increased its presence on the other side of the border. More than 1,600 police officers were deployed in Ceuta after Madrid sent over 500 additional officers from mainland Spain, Reuters reported. Spain also installed a maritime barrier following the previous influx.<\/p>\n

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The security operation followed a mass arrival on 30 July, when more than 72,000 people entered Ceuta.<\/p>\n

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At least 96 people died during the crossing, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n

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Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on Thursday that about 5,000 migrants remained in Ceuta. He said people who entered without authorisation would not be transferred to mainland Spain or granted legal status except in cases involving vulnerability. Those without a right to remain would face return to Morocco.<\/p>\n

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The July arrivals also led to disputes between European Union states. Italy introduced border controls on arrivals from Spain, citing migration concerns. Spain responded with controls of its own after asking Rome to withdraw the measure.<\/p>\n

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Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Saturday that Italy had feared another large arrival in Ceuta.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe’re not waging any kind of \u2018battle\u2019 against Spain,\u201d Tajani said. \u201cWe’re simply carefully controlling arrivals.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ceuta lies on the North African coast and shares a land border with Morocco. Spain administers the territory, while Morocco disputes Spanish sovereignty over the enclave.<\/p>\n

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HT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moroccan police arrested at least 111 people attempting to reach the Spanish territory of Ceuta on Saturday after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[87],"tags":[7457,69738,158,69737,113,69741,11045,4897,69739,3278,3049,69740],"class_list":["post-146704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-helsinki","tag-ceuta","tag-ceuta-border","tag-finland","tag-fnideq","tag-helsinki","tag-mediterranean-migration","tag-migrants","tag-migration","tag-moroccan-police","tag-morocco","tag-spain","tag-spanish-border"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117104314041247517","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}