Ahmed Eljechimi
RABAT, Sept 15 – Moroccan authorities on Sunday prevented dozens of migrants from breaking through a border fence and heading towards the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after calls on social media for an attempted mass migration.
Two Spanish exclaves on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, Ceuta and Melilla, share the European Union’s only land border with Africa and have seen sporadic attempts by migrants to cross into Europe.
In the latest attack, dozens of migrants gathered on a hilltop in Fnideq along the border on Sunday and began throwing stones at Moroccan security forces, who blocked them from approaching the fence in Ceuta, according to a video shared by a local news site.
Moroccan authorities said last week they had arrested at least 60 people for using social media to encourage migrants to cross the border en masse.
Moroccan security forces have been heavily deployed in Fnideq since Friday.
“This is the heaviest security deployment in Fnideq’s history, with authorities preemptively setting up multiple checkpoints on the road to northern Morocco,” said Mohamed Ben Aissa, a local human rights activist.
Hundreds of would-be migrants had been transferred by bus from Fnideq, he said.
Most of the migrants are young Moroccans, with a few from sub-Saharan Africa. Zakaria Razouki, a human rights activist in Fnideq, said many of them arrive in Fnideq on foot and hide in nearby forests to avoid authorities.
Moroccan security forces were preventing crossings at the land border and patrolling the coast to prevent migrants from swimming to Ceuta, he said.
The Moroccan Interior Ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Morocco and Spain have stepped up cooperation in tackling illegal migration since resolving a separate diplomatic dispute in 2022.
According to Interior Ministry figures, Morocco prevented 45,015 illegal migrants from entering Europe in the first eight months of this year.
Spanish police say hundreds of migrants took advantage of thick fog to swim to Ceuta last month.
Increased surveillance on Morocco’s northern border has encouraged more migrants to attempt the more dangerous and circuitous Atlantic route to the Canary Islands.
This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.