Moroccan police arrested nearly 300 people on Saturday as they thwarted a fresh attempt to enter Spain‘s North African enclave of Ceuta following calls on social media for another mass crossing.
The attempted surge came two weeks after more than 72,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta, leaving at least 96 people dead and sparking tensions across Europe.
Morocco’s Le360 media outlet reported that 294 people were arrested, 46 of them Moroccan and the rest from sub-Saharan Africa.
Moroccan police used tear gas to disperse groups of migrants gathered on hills around 3km (1.9 miles) from the border, according to Spanish news agency EFE.
Reporters later saw hundreds of officers, some in riot gear, returning from the hills outside Fnideq.
EFE and Spanish state broadcaster TVE said Morocco’s Interior Ministry ordered their journalists to leave Fnideq immediately, without providing an explanation.
In Ceuta, Spanish soldiers guarded supermarkets while police heavily patrolled the enclave’s main streets. The city was calmer than in the days after the deadly crossing attempt on July 30.
Moroccan security forces monitor as they thwart attempts by hundreds of sub-Saharan African and Sudanese migrants to enter Ceuta
The incident took place in a mountainous area on the outskirts of Castillejos, south-west of Ceuta, Moroccan security forces have said
Sub-Saharan African and Sudanese migrants gather near Fnideq (Castillejos), Morocco, as they attempt to enter the Spanish city of Ceuta, 15 August 2026
Migrants play with a ball as they wait to enter a short-stay migrants centre CETI at Trampolin beach in Spain’s north Africa’s Ceuta enclave on August 15, 2026
Migrants rest under a makeshift shelter as they wait to enter a short-stay migrants centre CETI at Trampolin beach in Spain’s north Africa’s Ceuta enclave on August 15, 2026
A Spanish military vehicle arrives at the border with Morocco, following the mass crossings
Migrants are pictured taking shade beneath a tree as temperatures are set to reach 32C on Saturday, as authorities stand watch
Moroccan security forces monitor dozens of sub-Saharan migrants who have gathered on the outskirts of the border town of Fnideq, Morocco
Moroccan security personnel secure the beach on the border with Spain in Ceuta, on Saturday
A heavy police and army deployment prepare at the border between Morocco and Spain today, after fresh social media calls for people to attempt the crossing
Madrid has since installed a maritime barrier and deployed more than 500 additional police from mainland Spain, raising the total in Ceuta to more than 1,600. The Interior Ministry said the reinforcements would remain for as long as needed.
‘We’ll continue to deploy whatever personnel are necessary to restore normality as soon as possible and prevent events like those of July 30 from happening again,’ Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on Thursday.
About 5,000 migrants remained in Ceuta, the minister said. Reuters saw hundreds sheltering from scorching heat under makeshift bamboo shelters on the urban beach of El Trampolin.
Grande-Marlaska said migrants who entered irregularly would not be allowed to stay in the enclave, travel to mainland Spain or obtain legal status, except in rare cases involving extreme vulnerability. Those without a right to remain would be returned to Morocco, he said.
Earlier this week, Rabat said it was monitoring ‘the circulation of social media posts and messages of unknown origin’ calling for a mass crossing on August 15, warning it would prosecute organizers and participants.
A Reuters witness saw reinforced security near the border, including police vans with wire shields and road checkpoints. Local media reported similar measures near Spain’s other North African enclave, Melilla.
Authorities prevented several groups from boarding trains and buses to northern Morocco in cities such as Casablanca, Fez and Kenitra. However, witnesses told Reuters that some migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were bypassing security checkpoints by taking mountain routes towards Fnideq.
One witness said the schools in Fnideq had been turned into accommodation for security forces deployed near the border.
Many of the young people who entered Ceuta on July 30 were fishing, swimming or washing at Tarajal beach on Friday.
Driss Sadik, a 22-year-old from Fez who said he swam for five hours to reach Ceuta, urged others not to follow his example.
‘The important thing I would advise people trying to cross: Don’t cross now, my brothers. You’re only going to suffer,’ he told Reuters.
The warning was echoed by Adil Jamil, 17.
‘Those who enter aren’t going to benefit from anything. There will just be more and more of us, and they won’t find a solution for all,’ he said.
Jamil said that the mass border crossings were ‘planned by the people’ who pick a date, gather in Fnideq and cross together to find strength in numbers.
Police and military personnel from Spain and Morocco were both deployed early on Saturday
A boat passes by the sea barrier that the Spanish government installed on the border with Morocco in Ceuta following last month’s mass crossing
Security has been beefed up in the area, including by installing barbed wire on border fences
‘If I had stayed with my parents, I would’ve died slowly. But if I risk my life, arrive and build my future … it will be better,’ he said.
According to El Pais, one message posted to online forums in which migrants discuss mobilising read: ‘The Ceuta border will be open on the 15th [of August], a public holiday in Spain.’
Rachid el-Jalfi, a spokesman for Morocco’s Ministry of the Interior, said on Wednesday that ‘all necessary measures’ had been taken to prevent illegal crossings.
He urged those planning to travel to Ceuta or Melilla to ignore online messages that appeared ‘suspicious and deceptive’, warning that attempts to cross posed ‘serious risks to people’s safety’.
Early last month, Spain’s top judicial body ruled that a procedure used to return illegal migrants only applied when they breached a physical border, rather than when they arrived by sea.
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Migrants attempting to cross into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta gather on a hilltop during clashes with Moroccan security forces near the town of Fnideq, on the Morocco-Spain border, on July 31, 2026
Migrants gather along the fence close to the site of clashes near Fnideq last month
Relatives and friends wait by a fence topped with barbed wire for the return of people who had previously crossed into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, at Morocca’s Bab Sebta border crossing on the outskirts of Fnideq on August 2, 2026
A woman is escorted by Moroccan security forces during clashes with migrants attempting to cross into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta near the town of Fnideq, on the Morocco-Spain border, on July 31, 2026
Police vehicles are seen parked close to the Ceuta border ahead of a possible fresh incursion today
Hundreds of soldiers and police personnel have been deployed by both sides
Under the ruling, migrants who cross an unmarked maritime border can still be returned, but only through a separate formal procedure.
The crisis began on July 30, when more than 72,000 migrants surged into Ceuta. The following day, the Spanish government announced plans for a maritime containment barrier, which it began installing off the coast on August 1.
The influx also triggered a diplomatic row within the European Union after Italy temporarily suspended its Schengen arrangements with Spain and introduced checks on travellers arriving from the country by air and sea.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the ‘uncontrolled immigration’ from Morocco into Ceuta as a national security threat.
Spain summoned the Italian ambassador in response, with Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares saying Madrid expected ‘European solidarity and not partisan demagoguery’. Spain then suspended its own Schengen arrangements with Italy.
Spanish authorities are meanwhile processing migrants who remain in Ceuta ahead of possible returns to Morocco.
Officials are using warehouses in Tarajal and elsewhere in the enclave to temporarily house migrants while they are identified and processed, with authorities hoping to return those without a right to remain within 72 hours of locating them.
The aftermath of the crossing has also been marred by allegations that several young migrant girls were raped after arriving in Ceuta.
Young men are arrested after attempting to storm the Bab Sebta border crossing near Fnideq, Morocco, July 31 2026
Most of the migrants who entered Ceuta have now left, authorities say
The alleged victims, all under the age of 14, sought treatment at the University Hospital of Ceuta (HUCE) this past week, health services told the El Pueblo de Ceuta newspaper.
Judicial sources said many of the alleged rapes were prevented by the direct intervention of residents of Ceuta.
Some residents of the autonomous city were also among the accused, however.
The Ceuta Prosecutor’s Office previously said it was aware of two of the cases of alleged sexual assault and had opened preliminary proceedings.
It confirmed that no arrests had yet been made.
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