When Leonora Heredia spotted a crowd of migrants rushing toward her small corner store, panic set in and she braced for what might happen next.

With the help of a loyal customer who happened to be inside, she dragged a heavy wooden counter against the entrance in an attempt to block the doorway. For the next 20 minutes, the pair battled to pull down the shutters as the group pressed outside.

Footage of the alarming incident shows the crowd gathered outside the convenience shop suddenly dispersing when police eventually arrived, reportedly after officers had been contacted three separate times.

Across Ceuta, similar moments of fear and confusion unfolded on July 30 — a day many Spanish residents of the North African enclave, perched on the Moroccan coast, now refer to simply as “the invasion.”

By the end of that day, the number of migrants crossing in from Morocco had dramatically swelled Ceuta’s population. The tiny Spanish territory, along with nearby Melilla, forms the European Union’s only land border with Africa — a vulnerable gateway critics say Spain’s Socialist-led government failed to secure.

The chaos that transpired – and the after-effects which still persist – were an object lesson for anyone on the Left who still advocates ‘open borders’.

Back at Leonora’s shop, Comestibles Leo, she was determined to defend her territory in a way the government has spectacularly failed to do on a larger scale.

Leonora recalled: ‘They were going to ransack everything, trying climb over the counter which we put there as a barricade.

‘It was terrifying but we managed to hold them off and called the police twice. I had an anxiety attack afterwards and didn’t open for the next two days.

‘Now I only open in the mornings and I’m afraid to be on the streets after 9pm.’

The Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez angered locals like Leonora when he claimed that 98 per cent of the the influx had returned to Morocco, a statement which Andy Burnham erroneously parroted.

The truth is that an estimated 10,000 people – mostly young men, though there women and children, too – are still here, and they’ve brought with them a mini crime wave, with 21 sexual assaults reported in the last month, five of which involved penetration and nine committed against minors.

It is an unimaginable burden for the citizens of Ceuta, an area the size of Windsor Great Park, even with hundreds of troops and extra police drafted in. The migrants now number more than 11 per cent of the population, which would equate in British terms, to eight million people.

Snr Sanchez has vowed that his government will resolve the crisis with ‘dignity’ in accordance with the law.

That would mean all these migrants would be allowed to file asylum claims, which could take months.

None of the Moroccans we spoke to – who make up the vast majority of the influx – claimed to be anything other than economic migrants. One young man said he simply left his truck driving job, an hour away across the border in Tetouan, to hot-foot it to the border when he heard ‘Spain was open’.

Another was training as an electrician, but decided to walk 36 hours with two friends in search of a better job in Europe.

But while the waiting game continues, the crisis has turned Ceuta into a bubbling cauldron of tension and violence between locals, Spanish authorities and the remaining migrants.

There’s a pervading sense of unease about the place, and there have been frequent outbreaks of trouble – migrants throwing rocks and corrosive substances at the police and soldiers, and a mob of locals trashing a migrants’ shanty town on one of the beaches while police appeared to stand by watching, at least initially.

On Wednesday, Ceuta’s ‘national day’, there were flag-waving celebrations all over Spain in solidarity with the benighted enclave.

As we approached one march, at first it appeared an almost festive gathering, but the chants were insistent: ‘Migrants go home’. A placard read: ‘Spain unites us: our beliefs enrich us.’

The closer you get to the district of Principe, where the largest concentration of migrants is to be found, the more uneasy the atmosphere.

As we rounded the bay stretching towards the border with Morocco, a huge number of young men were visible on the roadside.

Stretching way out to sea was a floating barrier, intended to stop any more migrants swimming around the coast from Morocco, but it’s far too late to stop those who are already here.

Further inland, endless rows of military tents came into view, which were set up as an aid station and processing point.

Outside it, hundreds of migrants sat or lay on the pavement, corralled by soldiers.

Every so often, police cars and vans turned up, lights flashing, officers bristling with weaponry; and at one vantage point, a road overlooking the sprawling aid station, a Humvee manned by Spanish soldiers sat in readiness.

The overriding sense you get driving and walking around Ceuta’s sweltering streets is of people waiting. The migrants, some in small groups, but often in large numbers, wait in hope of being allowed into Europe proper, as they believed is their right.

But the residents are also waiting – for their national government to step in and save them from this invading force, or simply to send them home again.

On the beach, at first sight, it looks like holidaymakers swimming in the surf, but on closer inspection, there are only young men to be seen anywhere. 

From the detritus left behind, it’s clear most are living here, and from the smell wafting up from the retaining wall, it’s also clear that sanitation is a pressing issue.

It is here on the beach that a video emerged this week of migrants capturing a young dolphin swimming in shallow waters, hitting it with a stick to the horror of onlookers. 

The video shared online shows a group of men crowding round the dolphin calf as it is held in the air ‘like a trophy’ and lifted above their heads as onlookers cheer – before enraged locals confront them.

One of the Spaniards shouts ‘No! No! No!’, warning the migrants that it is illegal to touch or eat the dolphin.

An online petition has been launched demanding those responsible are identified and brought before the courts.

A few miles along the coast, towards the western border with Morocco, lies El Trampolín beach, with every inch of sand and shale covered in ramshackle shelters, as volunteers from a German NGO called Mission Lifeline hand out food and charge up the migrants’ mobile phones.

The director, Nolte Bauer, said he had received death threats and that local people had attempted to slash the wheels of his truck.

Protesters have also tried to stop Red Cross vehicles from distributing food to migrants.

‘We understand that the current situation is stressful for local people,’ said Bauer, ‘but threatening people with death, hunting them down and setting camps on fire – that crosses a line.’

He said he and his organisation are in favour of ‘controlled, open migration’ and the present crisis was an inevitable consequence of denying legal visas to migrants.

‘Europe is over there,’ he said, pointing across the Strait of Gibraltar to the Spanish coast only 11 miles away. ‘There is plenty of space.’

Among the flag-waving locals protesting against the migrants was 23-year-old business consultant María Seaone, marching with her aunt and uncle. They live in the working-class neighbourhood of Juan XXIII, next to the immigrant’s shanty towns in Principe.

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‘Nothing has been normal here for the last month,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘Since then, we can’t go to the beach as I’m afraid to catch some kind of infection from all the human waste.

‘I’m scared even to walk my dog. When I leave work there are young men on the street corners in the middle of the day calling to me.

‘One said I was pretty in Spanish, then other stuff in Arabic I didn’t understand. Imagine what it would be like at night.

‘People’s houses have been broken into in our neighbourhood. I understand some of these people are escaping bad situations, but that’s no excuse to steal or worse.

‘We have been robbed of our normality and we feel abandoned by the government.’

At least five members of the Guardia Civil have been injured since the ‘invasion’, according to Guillermo Jose Lorenzo, a spokesperson for the local police trade union.

‘There are assaults when you go to identify people involved in a fight,’ he told the Daily Mail. ‘They turn on the officers. In some of these incidents, there have been injuries.’

He said that over time the prevailing mood has become darker.

‘In the first few days there weren’t so many clashes; they weren’t so burned out. They were euphoric about staying, about entering, and about staying. But now there is more trouble.

‘There’s also been an increase in robberies. They are more desperate because of their situation and because they don’t know what will become of them.’

The local police, the Guardia Civil, and the army are patrolling all areas of the city, and will intervene in fights.

‘But we lack clear instructions, procedures and legal backing when acting in any situation. So you don’t know what to do,’ said Snr Lorenzo.

‘Tension on the streets rises after nightfall. All the women carry pepper spray in their handbags – the shops have run out of it.’

Local politicians have expressed their anger at the national government.

The enclave’s mayor Juan Jesus Vivas – who has called for the immediate expulsion of all the arrivals and ‘real’ EU border reinforcement to protect his people – recently begged the European Parliament for more emergency help.

Francisco Garcia, President of the Federation of Neighbourhood Associations of Ceuta told the Daily Mail: ‘People are living in fear. When night falls, Ceuta completely shuts down.

‘The longer this goes on, the more fights there will be, the more hunger, they’ll resort to thefts and violence.

‘The other day we witnessed three fights in less than half an hour. Despite what we’re going through, we have compassion; we give them water if they want it, but we don’t give them money.’

He sincerely believes that the crisis in Ceuta could even bring down the government in Madrid.

‘[Prime minister] Sanchez is a complete idiot. He came to Ceuta to spout forth stupid things, such a saying that Morocco is a friend of Spain, and that’s a load of crap.

‘There have never been such large demonstrations across Spain in nearly every city. It speaks volumes, considering everything that’s happened. It’s telling the president to resign. Spain doesn’t want him.’

Just outside the huge Mercadona supermarket near one of Ceuta’s newly ‘colonised’ beaches, police and soldiers make the migrants wait in line, only allowing a handful through at any one time.

Not far away, we meet Mohammed, 26 from western Morocco, who is wearing a Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal T-shirt. He’s had it on since July 30.

As soon as Mohammed heard the border at Ceuta was open, he headed there with his friend Elaldian without telling his parents. The two young men, along with others, made the three-hour swim from Fnideq in Morocco to the Spanish territory, and told the Daily Mail that he saw bodies floating in the water.  

It was six days before he was able to borrow a phone to tell his parents he was safe.

Since then, the pair have been sleeping rough and eating food provided by the Red Cross.

Mohammed, who was a truck driver in Morocco, said he rated his chances of achieving his dream of settling in Europe as 50:50. Elaldian said he was working as a farmer. 

Neither man claimed to have any serious need for asylum – they just hope for a better paid job, and it seems doubtful their requests will be granted.

Mustafa, 21, walked 36 hours with two friends from their homes in Larache to reach Ceuta.

‘I am a trainee electrician, so I hope I will be able to find work in Spain,’ he said. With the youth unemployment rate at 23 per cent in Spain, it seems unlikely, even if he were to be granted asylum.

Over at El Trampolin beach, young men appear to be walking on the water as they stand on outcrops of rock, fishing.

A cheerful young man called Abul Rafar, 23, from Casablanca says he is a semi-professional footballer back in Morocco, and now wants to play in Spain. He probably has a better chance of playing for Real Madrid than he does of being granted asylum.

Ahmed Zayda, 27, and his brother, Mohammed, 18 would appear to have more grounds for optimism. They paid ‘someone’ around $7,000 to be smuggled out of Gaza by tunnel into Egypt, then made their way overland to Ceuta.

They’ve been sleeping in the streets and in woodland ever since.

‘I have managed to register, but my brother hasn’t,’ said Ahmed, who claims to be a cyber security expert.

He is hopeful of claiming asylum and is likely to succeed, given his Palestinian Authority passport, but before that, he and his sibling must survive in a different hostile environment from their homeland.

‘It took us eight hours to swim round, and now we have to beg for water and bread, but we will make it.’

Additional reporting: Guillem Andrés Ruiz

Cleveland Police’s chief constable has rejected claims that gangs have taken control of Middlesbrough, insisting the force is “doing the very best with what we’ve got.”

Victoria Fuller said Cleveland Police needs an extra £26million to take on organised crime groups and deal with street-level offending, speaking in an emotional interview after the deaths of two officers, PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38.

The officers were killed in the line of duty on August 22 when a Volkswagen Passat being driven the wrong way along the A66, near Middlesbrough, collided with them.

Five young men in the car — Jakub Matusiak, 23, Michael Cahill, 23, Makai Saddington, 18, Theo Rae, 17, and Cole Worthy, 17 — also died in the crash, which has since triggered violence and unrest across Middlesbrough and County Durham.

Cleveland Police covers an area that includes Middlesbrough and currently records the highest crime rate in England and Wales.

There has been a spate of car rammings in the area, typically used to intimidate rival gangs, while vulnerable teenagers have been recruited for county lines.

In an interview with the BBC, Ms Fuller denied gangs have taken control of Middlesbrough, but admitted the area needs far more funding. 

‘We’re doing the very, very best with what we’ve got – and we absolutely do need more,’ she said.

Authorities say organised crime is being fuelled by high deprivation and unemployment in the area. 

‘When young people have little aspiration or hope, who don’t have confidence in the state, then unfortunately criminals exploit these people,’ Ms Fuller said.

‘They give confidence, and they give them hope, and they give them aspiration. And sadly what that means is young people doing things without thought of consequences.’

Ms Fuller described PC Blades and PC Clough as ‘brave, committed, professional people who put the public before themselves’.

‘What Matty and Tom were doing that day was a routine part of their role, so I can’t sit here and say that anything would have prevented this from happening,’ she said.

‘But we have been calling for better funding for many years now. I’ve been here for four years now and, even in my time, there’s been two, two direct funding requests for additional funding here.’

Ms Fuller, who joined Cleveland in 2022 and was appointed chief constable in June last year, welcomed a £2million cash boost from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to tackle serious crime after a spate of incidents in the area.

But she said £26million was required to defeat organised gangs and tackle street crime. 

Ms Fuller told The Times: ‘These are complex, multi-generational issues that will not be solved by policing alone.

‘It won’t be solved overnight — and certainly not with £2 million.’ 

She added: ‘We deal with issues akin to inner-city crime [but] the budget doesn’t match. I don’t want Cleveland to have the highest crime rate.’ 

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Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Matt Storey said the force was facing a £2.4 million funding shortfall, said to be the equivalent of about 40 full-time police officers.

Mr Storey previously said the Government’s funding for the force ‘completely fails to deliver the resources required to meet the demand faced by Cleveland Police and falls far short of what is needed’.

Ms Fuller said she was ‘passionate’ about leading the force through this ‘difficult time’, and for the next few years.

She continued: ‘Do you know what? I’ve got the best workforce. I’ve got the best workforce of the most selfless, committed people who do punch above their weight.

‘I just want to say thank you to the vast majority of people that live in our area, who are really good, law-abiding people, who care deeply about their communities, who care deeply for their police service, and who have really supported us through.’

Yesterday, hundreds of mourners gathered in Middlesbrough for the funeral of Jakub Matusiak – one of the five young men who died in the A66 crash.

A white carriage drawn by two grey horses carrying Matusiak’s coffin arrived at St John The Evangelist Church, just before 3pm.

Family members and close friends arrived in a Rolls Royce, two Lamborghinis, a Porsche and two limousines.

Floral tributes spelling the words ‘Dad’ and ‘Friend’ had been placed on top of the carriage while two black hearses followed behind carrying photographs of Matusiak framed with cream and orange flowers.

The family had requested mourners wear orange, his favourite colour. Traffic was held up as the coffin, engraved with the words ‘son’, was carried into the church by six pallbearers, the solemn silence interrupted briefly by applause and whistles.

It came after schools were accused of ‘giving in to thugs’ by closing at lunchtime over fears of disorder.

Six schools in Middlesbrough shut their doors at midday on Friday to avoid clashing with Matusiak’s funeral in the South Bank area of the town.

The decision, which was condemned by the Conservatives, followed a meeting between head teachers and the local authority over concerns about large crowds, motorbikes and quad bikes gathering.

Officers stayed away from the service when it began even as crowds continued to gather outside, with some attending in balaclavas and hoodies.

Members of the press who were reporting on the funeral were advised to leave the area half-way through with one man exclaiming ‘It would be a good idea to leave…now.’

At a ‘memorial’ for Matusiak last month, close to the crash site in South Bank, orange balloons were released, fireworks set off and balaclava-clad bikers intimidated residents.

Matusiak had previously shared footage on social media of him driving a Volvo recklessly, veering off the road and speeding across a grass park in May. 

He had two previous convictions for driving without a licence and using a vehicle without insurance. 

Police are investigating whether the five men had links to ‘serious and organised criminal activity’.

Four of the group had at least 37 previous convictions between them.

An American Airlines passenger was restrained with duct tape during a flight after an alleged alcohol-fueled outburst involving racist and homophobic remarks forced the aircraft to divert.

Arthur Lundeen, 67, of Arizona, was allegedly zip-tied and taped to his seat aboard Flight 618, which was traveling from Dallas, Texas, to Newark, New Jersey, TMZ reported.

Passengers said Lundeen appeared to be intoxicated when he began shouting at the man seated next to him at around 10pm, after the flight had completed roughly three-quarters of its route.

The disturbance escalated as the 67-year-old allegedly ranted about Jesus and going to hell, prompting a flight attendant to step in and check on the situation, sources told TMZ.

Lundeen, who was seated in first class, then allegedly directed the N-word at the Black flight attendant and made homophobic comments, according to the outlet.

A female passenger allegedly attempted to help, but the unruly passenger reportedly pushed her, causing three male passengers to get up. 

Lundeen then allegedly bit one male passenger and attempted to bite another. 

‘Just like a light switch, all of a sudden, it went from quiet to yelling and chaos,’ Juan Mejia, a retired police officer who was on the flight, told CBS News. 

‘I turned around to look, and the poor gentleman that was sitting next to him in the aisle seat, the individual had his hands around his neck and was, like, assaulting him.’ 

Mejia and Richard Olenick, who were both sitting two rows in front of Lundeen, jumped up to help. 

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A flight attendant handed the men duct tape, and they reportedly tied him up, wrapping the gray adhesive around his wrists, head, and body to secure him to the seat. 

Lundeen allegedly tried to get out of his restraints and the male passengers held him down. 

Flight 618 was diverted to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, landing 15 minutes later. 

Lundeen was taken into custody on state charges, and federal charges could to be filed by the FBI, according to TMZ. 

Lundeen also allegedly hit his seatmate and smashed his computer. 

American Airlines told the Daily Mail the flight was diverted due to a ‘disruptive customer.’ 

Lundeen was deplaned and the flight then continued on to Newark. 

‘The ​safety and ​security of our customers ​and ​team members is our ​top ​priority, ​and ​we do ​not tolerate violence,’ a spokesperson said. 

‘We ​thank ​our team members ​for ​their ​professionalism and ​our customers for ​their ​understanding.’ 

The Daily Mail has reached out to the FAA for comment.