In a tense confrontation, riot police thwarted an attempted mass entry by migrants into Ceuta, a Spanish territory, marking the second such organized attempt.
A large throng of men advanced toward the border crossing located at the northern fringe of Africa, seeking entry.
This incident follows closely on the heels of a significant breach two weeks ago, when 72,000 individuals navigated the waters from Morocco to the Spanish enclave’s shores, tragically resulting in 145 fatalities.
According to reports from Morocco’s Le360 news outlet, authorities detained over 300 individuals, with 46 identified as Moroccan nationals and the remainder hailing from sub-Saharan Africa.
To control the situation, police deployed tear gas against clusters of migrants positioned on hills roughly 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the border, as stated by Spanish news agency EFE.
Reporters later saw hundreds of officers, some in riot gear, returning from the hills outside Fnideq.
Huge groups of the men were seen pouring down the hills and mountains near Ceuta during the attempted crossing yesterday.
In the weeks leading up to the crossing attempt, messages began to swirl around social media calling for a new invasion of the Spanish enclave.
Hundreds of migrants were seen trying to storm border of Spanish enclave in planned Ceuta
Huge crowds of men were seen storming the border crossing at the northern tip of the African continent
Police and military personnel from Spain and Morocco were both deployed early on Saturday
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 message posted to an online forum read: ‘The Ceuta border will be open on the 15th [of August], a public holiday in Spain.’
They are also being urged to cross the border into Melilla, another Spanish autonomous city on the northern coast of Africa.
Ceuta and Melilla form the European Union’s only land borders with Africa.
Social media was previously blamed for the organisation of the first large-scale attempt on the border.
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.
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.
Mr 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.
Moroccan security forces monitor as they thwart attempts by hundreds of sub-Saharan African and Sudanese migrants to enter Ceuta
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 are pictured taking shade beneath a tree as temperatures are set to reach 32C on Saturday, as authorities stand watch
Witnesses saw reinforced security near the border, including police vans with wire shields and road checkpoints. Local media reported similar measures near 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.
Adil 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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
