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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez addresses lawmakers about the situation in Ceuta, the Spanish exclave in North Africa facing a migrant crisis, during a session of Parliament in Madrid, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. (Fernando S\u00e1nchez\/Europa Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Fernando S\u00e1nchez\/Fernando S\u00c3\u00a1nchez\/Europa Press v<\/p>\n
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez addresses lawmakers about the situation in Ceuta, the Spanish exclave in North Africa facing a migrant crisis, during a session of Parliament in Madrid, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. (Fernando S\u00e1nchez\/Europa Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Fernando S\u00e1nchez\/Fernando S\u00c3\u00a1nchez\/Europa Press v<\/p>\n
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez addresses lawmakers about the situation in Ceuta, the Spanish exclave in North Africa facing a migrant crisis, during a session of Parliament in Madrid, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. (Fernando S\u00e1nchez\/Europa Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Fernando S\u00e1nchez\/Fernando S\u00c3\u00a1nchez\/Europa Press v<\/p>\n
Protesters gather in support of Ceuta to mark the city’s anniversary in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (Gabriel Luengas\/Europa Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Gabriel Luengas\/Gabriel Luengas\/Europa Press via<\/p>\n
Migrants wait to buy food at a store in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
Francis Gonz\u00e1lez\/AP Photo\/Francis Gonz\u00c3\u00a1lez<\/p>\n
MADRID (AP) \u2014 A day after tens of thousands of Spaniards protested the government\u2019s handling of the Ceuta border crisis, Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez struggled to field lawmakers’ questions about the matter, including what role Morocco played in the deadly mass crossing in July.<\/p>\n
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Five weeks after the incident, few answers have been provided about how 72,000 people were able to stream across the border shared by the Spanish exclave in North Africa and Morocco. While rejecting suggestions that Moroccan authorities helped orchestrate the incident, S\u00e1nchez said Moroccan police \u201callowed the border to be crossed.”<\/p>\n
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He said his government would release key reports about the border breach soon, but did not say when they would be made public or what they would entail.<\/p>\n
In his remarks, the Spanish leader said 141 people had died during the mass crossing, up from the most-recent official estimate of 96 deaths in Spain and Morocco, provided by authorities in Ceuta and Morocco’s National Human Rights Council. Neither his office nor the interior ministry could say how it had been tallied when contacted by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez is facing mounting scrutiny amid a prolonged humanitarian crisis in Ceuta, where the flood of thousands of migrants has angered residents in the tiny community, which is ill-equipped to handle such an influx.<\/p>\n
In the event\u2019s aftermath, top officials in the S\u00e1nchez government have at times provided conflicting information. Last week, Spain\u2019s Defense Minister Margarita Robles said Spanish intelligence had provided prior warning of the border rush, while Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said it had not.<\/p>\n
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Spaniards on Wednesday joined protests in support of Ceuta, demanding solutions to the city’s ongoing tensions and calling for S\u00e1nchez to step down. The crisis is shaping up to be one of the most serious threats his government has faced. S\u00e1nchez faced a barrage of questions on Thursday from lawmakers after his opening address alongside calls for early elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people of Ceuta have been without normalcy, without security and without answers for over a month. And we Spaniards are at the same time perplexed and outraged in the face of the violation of our territorial integrity,\u201d said opposition leader Alberto N\u00fa\u00f1ez Feij\u00f3o of the center-right Popular Party.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you afraid of Morocco?\u201d Feij\u00f3o asked.<\/p>\n
Most of the migrants who crossed into Ceuta in late July returned within days to neighboring Morocco or were ushered back. But around 5,000 people, including 1,200 minors, remain in the city weeks later, according to the national government. Ceuta\u2019s local government cites a higher figure of about 9,000 people.<\/p>\n
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S\u00e1nchez, who faces an election next year, has said a misinterpretation of a Supreme Court ruling and disinformation on social media encouraged people to rush the border.<\/p>\n
The prime minister has also accused social media accounts linked to Russia and Israel and right-wing groups of exploiting and amplifying the Ceuta crisis after it happened on July 30 and 31. Israel and Russia have denied the claim.<\/p>\n
Questions about Morocco’s role <\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez also maintained there was no evidence Morocco’s government was behind the mass crossing.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI can assure you that no institution \u2014 neither the diplomatic service, nor the European Commission, nor any international body \u2014 has provided the Spanish government with solid evidence that Morocco planned or carried out the incident. None,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Spanish media reported that a police report had highlighted the alleged permissiveness of Moroccan security forces in the incident, but Spanish officials denied that the document blamed the Moroccan government.<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez acknowledged that for a 10-hour period on July 30 when migrant arrivals peaked, Morocco\u2019s Gendarmerie police \u201callowed the border to be crossed” in Ceuta, but said the same force effectively took control of it later.<\/p>\n
As questions have grown on the right and left in Spain about Morocco’s role in the border rush, the Spanish leader said he would only take action if he had evidence about Rabat’s involvement.<\/p>\n
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\u201cFor the record, if such solid evidence existed, we would act accordingly with absolute decisiveness, as the situation demands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez condemned comments from two Moroccan ministers questioning the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s other territory in North Africa. Morocco’s ambassador in Madrid had been summoned by Spain over the remarks, he said.<\/p>\n
Morocco\u2019s Foreign Ministry did not respond to questions from the AP seeking comment about the diplomatic row or the Spanish police report.<\/p>\n
The two exclaves have the European Union\u2019s only land borders with Africa.<\/p>\n
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Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, and Renata Brito in Barcelona contributed to the report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez addresses lawmakers about the situation in Ceuta, the Spanish exclave in North Africa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25874,190,10832,1222,2264,1561,2317,205,2314,2316,9110,17,30137],"class_list":["post-80324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-akram-oubachir","tag-alberto-nunez-feijoo","tag-fernando-grande-marlaska","tag-margarita-robles","tag-morocco","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-pedro-sanchez","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-32502-ap-online-europe-news","tag-renata-brito","tag-spain","tag-spain-morocco-ceuta-sanchez-migration-european-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80324","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=80324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}