EditCeuta regains cautious calm after unprecedented migrant surge, but European rifts deepen
Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez described some governments’ responses as “selfish, polarising and unlawful,” driven by “prejudice, fake news, ignorance or political interest”
The Spanish autonomous city of Ceuta is slowly returning to a fragile sense of normality after one of the largest irregular border crossings in recent European history. Nearly all of the estimated 50,000 to 60,000 people who entered the North African enclave from Morocco in late July have left, Spanish authorities confirmed, while new physical barriers are being installed to deter further attempts.
The autonomous city of Ceuta is trying to regain a sense of calm. Authorities have begun installing protective barriers along the breakwater where at least 60,000 people crossed irregularly.https://t.co/z1XYu7y83t pic.twitter.com/uQBy84hNXN
— euronews (@euronews) August 1, 2026
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska described the situation as “almost entirely reversed” on 1 August. More than 48,000 of those who crossed -mostly young Moroccan men – returned voluntarily to Morocco within roughly 48 hours under the supervision of Spanish police and military forces. Overnight crossings had fallen to near zero. At least 67 people died during the chaotic rush, some by drowning while swimming around the Tarajal breakwater and others in stampedes at the fence.
Authorities moved quickly to reinforce the frontier. Civil Guard officers began installing a 500-metre floating barrier off the Tarajal breakwater, consisting of an inflatable structure with a submerged section up to one metre deep, supplemented by naval buoys.
🇲🇦🇪🇸 Spain has completed the installation of a 500-metre floating containment barrier at the Tarajal breakwater in Ceuta.
The pneumatic fence rises 30–70 cm above the water and extends one metre below the surface in an effort to deter migrants.
Follow: @europa pic.twitter.com/ozgCRfSw2m
— Europa.com (@europa) August 1, 2026
Reinforced police and military deployments remain in place. Local shops and restaurants cautiously reopened after a lockdown of more than 24 hours, though the city’s annual festivities for its patron saint, the Virgin of Africa, were cancelled. Residents described lingering fear and uncertainty even as streets emptied of the sudden crowds that had overwhelmed a city of about 83,000 people.
Spanish officials stressed that no migrants moved onward from Ceuta to mainland Spain or the rest of the Schengen area, citing existing controls that treat the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla as special external territories. Cooperation with Moroccan authorities was credited for the rapid reversal.
Diplomatic scars
Yet the crisis has left clear diplomatic scars across the European Union. Italy, under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, suspended aspects of the Schengen free-movement arrangements with Spain for one month, reimposing targeted checks on non-EU nationals arriving by air or sea. Meloni called the images from Ceuta “shocking” and framed uncontrolled immigration as a threat to European security. Finland and Denmark backed similar steps, while leaders from 22 EU countries issued a joint letter criticising Spain’s broader migration policies – including plans to regularise large numbers of undocumented migrants – as potential “pull factors.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez strongly condemned the reactions. He described some governments’ responses as “selfish, polarising and unlawful,” driven by “prejudice, fake news, ignorance or political interest,” and noted that Ceuta itself is not fully integrated into the Schengen free-movement zone in the same way as the Spanish mainland. Spain summoned Italy’s ambassador in protest over the rhetoric. An emergency video conference of EU interior ministers was scheduled to address the fallout.
While physical barriers and rapid returns appear effective in the short term, the episode has exposed deeper tensions over shared responsibility for external borders, migration incentives, and the integrity of the Schengen system. For Ceuta’s residents, the immediate priority remains restoring everyday life after days of disruption, shortages, and fear – aware that the political aftershocks may last longer than the physical ones.
Ceuta is not a migration incident – it is a front in the war for the straits
Edited by g.g.
Caption: Spanish Civil Guard officials patrol the streets as Spain reopens borders with Morocco, in the Spanish enclave of Melilla, 1 August 2026. Violent clashes occurred along the border perimeter for two days as migrants attempted to enter Ceuta and Melilla from Morocco. EPA/Giner
Updated: August 2, 2026 - 07:16
