By Ahmed Eljechtimi
RABAT (Reuters) – Moroccan authorities on Sunday prevented dozens of migrants from storming a border fence to succeed in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, after calls on social media for a mass migration try.
Spain’s two enclaves on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, Ceuta and Melilla, share the one land borders of the European Union with Africa. The enclaves sporadically expertise waves of tried crossings by migrants making an attempt to succeed in Europe.
In the newest try, dozens of migrants gathered on high of a hill in Fnideq on the border on Sunday and commenced throwing stones at Moroccan safety forces, a video shared by native information web sites confirmed. Police prevented them from approaching the Ceuta fence.
Moroccan authorities mentioned they arrested no less than 60 individuals final week for utilizing social media to incite migrants to aim a mass crossing.
Since Friday, Moroccan safety forces have been deployed closely in Fnideq.
“That is the heaviest safety deployment ever in Fnideq with authorities appearing pre-emptively by establishing a number of checkpoints on roads to northern Morocco,” Mohammed Ben Aissa, an area human rights activist mentioned.
A whole lot of would-be migrants had been bussed away from Fnideq, he mentioned.Many of the migrants are Moroccan youths, joined by a smaller variety of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. A lot of them arrive in Fnideq on foot and conceal in close by forests to evade authorities, mentioned Zakaria Razzouki, a rights activist in Fnideq.Moroccan safety forces attempt to forestall crossings on the land border and patrol the seaside to forestall migrants from swimming to Ceuta, he mentioned.
Morocco’s inside ministry didn’t reply to a Reuters request for remark.
Morocco and Spain have strengthened their cooperation in addressing unlawful migration since they patched up a separate diplomatic feud in 2022.
Within the first eight months this 12 months, Morocco stopped 45,015 individuals from illegally migrating to Europe, based on inside ministry figures.
Final month, lots of of migrants took benefit of a thick mist to swim to Ceuta, Spanish police mentioned.
Tighter surveillance of Morocco’s northern borders has prompted an rising variety of migrants to strive the riskier and longer Atlantic path to the Canary Islands.
(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Enhancing by Ros Russell)
