{"id":639656,"date":"2026-08-16T04:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T04:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/639656\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T04:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T04:42:15","slug":"morocco-arrests-more-than-100-people-attempting-to-enter-ceuta-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/639656\/","title":{"rendered":"Morocco arrests more than 100 people attempting to enter Ceuta \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moroccan<\/a> police have arrested at least 111 people as they tried to enter Spain\u2019s<\/a> north African territory of Ceuta, amid tightened security on both sides of the border after social media posts called for another mass \u200bcrossing.<\/p>\n

The attempted crossing on Saturday came two weeks after more than 72,000 migrants surged into Ceuta, sparking tensions within the European Union<\/a> and fuelling anti-immigration rhetoric among far-right parties worldwide. At least 96 people died in the attempt to reach European soil.<\/p>\n

A source in Morocco\u2019s interior ministry told news agency Reuters that those detained included 109 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and two Moroccan citizens arrested in or around Fnideq, the Moroccan city opposite Ceuta.<\/p>\n

According to Spanish news \u200bagency EFE, Moroccan police used tear gas to disperse groups of migrants gathered on hills about 3km from the border. Reuters later saw hundreds of police officers, some in riot gear and others in plain \u2060clothes, returning from the hills outside Fnideq.<\/p>\n

EFE and Spanish state broadcaster TVE said Morocco\u2019s interior ministry ordered their journalists to leave Fnideq immediately, without providing an explanation.<\/p>\n

In Ceuta, \u200cSpanish \u200csoldiers \u200bguarded supermarkets while police heavily patrolled the enclave\u2019s main streets. The city was calmer than in the days after the deadly crossing attempt on July 30th.<\/p>\n

Madrid has since installed a maritime barrier<\/a> and deployed more than 500 additional police from mainland Spain, raising the total \u2060in Ceuta to more than 1,600. Spain\u2019s interior ministry said the reinforcements \u200bwould remain for as long as needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to deploy whatever personnel are necessary to \u200brestore normality as soon as possible and prevent events like those of July 30th from happening again,\u201d interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"SpanishSpanish soldiersat the border fence between Morocco and Ceuta on August 15th. Photograph: Jorge Guerrero\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

About 5,000 migrants remained in Ceuta, the \u200cminister said. Reuters saw hundreds sheltering from scorching heat under makeshift bamboo \u200bshelters on the urban beach of El Trampolin.<\/p>\n

Grande-Marlaska said migrants who entered irregularly would not be allowed to stay in the enclave, travel to mainland Spain or \u2060obtain legal status, except in rare cases involving extreme vulnerability. Those without \u2060a right to remain would be returned to \u200bMorocco, he said.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Rabat said it was monitoring \u201cthe circulation of social media posts and messages of unknown origin\u201d calling for a mass crossing on August 15th, warning it would prosecute organisers and participants.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0To manage migration, Europe should help African countries improve their citizens\u2019 livesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A witness saw reinforced security near the border, including police vans with wire shields and road checkpoints. Local media reported similar measures near Spain\u2019s other north African enclave, Melilla.<\/p>\n

Authorities prevented several groups from boarding trains and buses to northern Morocco in cities such as Casablanca, Fez and Kenitra. However, witnesses said some migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were bypassing security checkpoints by taking mountain routes towards Fnideq.<\/p>\n

One witness said the schools in Fnideq had been turned into accommodation for security forces deployed near the border. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moroccan police have arrested at least 111 people as they tried to enter Spain\u2019s north African territory of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,2219,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,10456,5,383,7,8],"class_list":["post-639656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-european-union","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-morocco","tag-news","tag-spain","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117103359237963593","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}