{"id":64557,"date":"2026-08-01T23:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T23:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/64557\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T23:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T23:35:07","slug":"spain-installs-floating-barrier-as-ceuta-death-toll-hits-67","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/64557\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain installs floating barrier as Ceuta death toll hits 67"},"content":{"rendered":"

The death toll climbed to 67 and at least 70 migrants were arrested as Spain\u2019s military began installing a 1,600-foot floating barrier off the coast of Ceuta Saturday in an effort to stem hordes of migrants<\/a> from Morocco.<\/p>\n

An estimated 50,000 migrants flooded into the tiny Spanish enclave in North Africa during the crisis that began Thursday, overwhelming authorities. <\/p>\n

Some of the migrants drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, while others were killed in a deadly crush at a border checkpoint \u2014 prompting Spain to declare a national emergency and mobilize law enforcement authorities to send thousands back across the border.<\/p>\n

The Navy installed a pneumatic barrier between Tarajal Beach in Ceuta and Morocco that contained a line of secured buoys with a surface height of 30 to 70 centimeters.<\/p>\n

A 1,600-foot long floating barrier was set up by Spain on Saturday to shut down the illegal crossing of Moroccan migrants AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

At least 48,000 migrants had volunteered to return<\/a> to Morocco as of Saturday, Spain\u2019s Interior Ministry claimed.<\/p>\n

Some were shuttled towards the border in buses while others were transported in police vehicles, Spanish newspaper ABC reported.<\/p>\n

However, several crossing attempts were reported throughout the afternoon despite military presence in the sea.<\/p>\n

At least 48,000 migrants had returned to Morocco by Saturday two days after flooding the Spanish territory of Ceuta on Thursday and Friday. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Ceuta President Juan Jes\u00fas Vivas warned reporters that authorities were still working on restoring order.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome the fact that returns have begun, but Ceuta has not returned to normal,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Spanish National Police agents confront Moroccan migrants on a beach in Ceuta on Saturday REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not back to normal because there are several thousand people who must be returned, and a climate of unease and concern still prevails.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least one Moroccan national was arrested Saturday after he allegedly stabbed another migrant during a Friday street brawl in front of a Ceuta school, according to El Faro de Ceuta newspaper.<\/p>\n

Footage recorded by a bystander showed the migrant jabbing at his victim and then appearing to strike him near the shoulder area. <\/p>\n

Clashes were also reported between Moroccan security forces and throngs of migrants who wanted to flood into the city of Melilla, located east of Ceuta.<\/p>\n

Antena 3 television reported that Moroccan authorities had taken at least 70 people into custody since the migrants flooded into Ceuta on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Moroccan security forces detained a man attempting to cross from the Moroccan town of Fnideq to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Friday. AP Photo\/STR<\/p>\n

The surge came with migrants seeking to escape Morocco\u2019s social and economic crisis<\/a> and chose Ceuta and Melilla \u2014 the European Union\u2019s only lands that border Africa.<\/p>\n

President Trump seized on the images from Ceuta during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David Friday \u2014 calling it \u201can invasion\u201d and warning Americans ahead of November\u2019s midterm elections. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat same thing is going to happen to us if the Republicans don\u2019t get elected \u2014 except worse,\u201d the president said, while blaming Spain\u2019s border crisis on \u201cweak law, bad management\u201d and liberal migration policies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The death toll climbed to 67 and at least 70 migrants were arrested as Spain\u2019s military began installing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6211,194,31,3593,2264,17,394],"class_list":["post-64557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-africa","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran","tag-migrants","tag-morocco","tag-spain","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}