A large group of migrants were escorted by police and military personnel on Saturday, August 1, in the Spanish enclave in North Africa towards the El Tarajal border crossing.
Security forces were seen accompanying migrants toward designated border areas after hundreds entered the Spanish enclave from neighbouring Morocco in recent days, many by swimming around the Tarajal breakwater or crossing through coastal border points.
Spain said on Friday it had reversed a huge rush of migrants into Ceuta, with most of the more than 50,000 people who had crossed the border by land and sea already heading back voluntarily.
The Spanish government’s representative in Ceuta said 57 bodies had been recovered on the Spanish side of the border and that there could be additional casualties on the Moroccan side. It said some drowned and some were crushed while trying to climb the breakwater that holds the border fence.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said around 50,000 people had crossed the border since Thursday morning, and estimated that 48,300 had returned by 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Friday. Juan Jesus Vivas, head of Ceuta’s local government, said as many as 60,000 people had pushed across over the past couple of days.
Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish autonomous cities in northern Morocco, have the European Union’s only land borders with Africa. Both periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach Europe, but the scale of Thursday’s rush appeared unprecedented.