Morocco arrests 111 migrants headed for Spain’s Ceuta in security crackdown

Moroccan police arrested at least 111 people on Saturday as they tried to enter Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, amid tightened security on both sides of the border after social ⁠media posts called for another mass migrant crossing.

CEUTA, Spain — Moroccan police arrested at least 111 people on Saturday as they tried to enter Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, amid tightened security on both sides of the border after social ⁠media posts called for another mass migrant crossing.

The attempted crossing came two weeks after more than 72,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta, sparking tensions within the European Union and fueling anti-immigration rhetoric among far-right parties worldwide. At least 96 people died in the attempt to reach European soil.

A source in Morocco’s Interior Ministry told Reuters those detained included 109 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and two Moroccan citizens arrested in or around Fnideq, the Moroccan city opposite Ceuta.

According to Spanish news agency EFE, Moroccan police used tear gas ⁠to disperse groups of migrants gathered on hills about 3 km (1.9 miles) from ​the ⁠border. Reuters later saw hundreds of police officers, some in riot gear and others in plain clothes, 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.