Sánchez Offers New Details on Migrant Surge in Ceuta

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has rejected claims that Morocco coordinated the mass migrant crossing into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, even as a police report described Moroccan border forces as initially offering little resistance.

More than 72,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta on July 30 and 31. Ceuta authorities said at least 100 people died. Opposition parties in Spain and human rights organizations accused Morocco of deliberately allowing the crossing, while representatives of the government in Rabat denied facilitating illegal border crossings.

Speaking in parliament on Thursday, Sánchez said Moroccan police allowed people to cross during the peak of the influx on July 30, which lasted 10 hours. Spanish authorities still need to determine whether that reflected inaction or an inability to stop the flow, he said.

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There is no evidence that Moroccan institutions coordinated the events at the end of July.

The police report, reviewed by Reuters, said fewer Moroccan security personnel than usual were stationed at the border post and that they did not seriously try to push the crowd back. It also said some uniformed Moroccan officers pointed people toward the crossing. The report named no specific officers and contained no independently verified evidence that Moroccan authorities had issued such instructions.

Sánchez had already rejected speculation about Moroccan involvement in a Monday radio interview. He told SER that signs instead pointed to a disinformation campaign involving Russia and Israel. According to Sánchez, a European External Action Service inquiry identified those actors as having used the crisis to criticize Madrid over its positions on the war in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.

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On the contrary, there are indications that this was linked to a Russian and Israeli disinformation campaign.