Moroccan police arrest over 100 migrants trying to reach Spanish enclave | Migration News

It follows a brand new disinformation marketing campaign on social media encouraging individuals to flock to the town.

Moroccan police have arrested greater than 100 individuals making an attempt to succeed in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.

Footage posted on-line on Saturday confirmed massive crowds of individuals, most reportedly from sub-Saharan Africa, heading in direction of Ceuta.

The tried crossing comes simply weeks after more than 70,000 people fled to the autonomous metropolis on the north coast of Africa — with many dying within the course of. It additionally follows what has been described as a brand new disinformation marketing campaign on social media encouraging individuals to flock to the town.

Moroccan authorities mentioned earlier this week that they had been working to foil any such makes an attempt.

Lots of of police had been reportedly deployed to confront the crowds, resulting in at the least 111 arrests, in keeping with Reuters, which cited a supply in Morocco’s Ministry of Inside. Police reportedly used tear gasoline to disperse the crowds.

Spanish newspaper ABC reported that a whole lot of individuals had been travelling to the enclave, which Morocco doesn’t recognise as Spanish territory.

The crowds superior by the mountains on their solution to Ceuta, passing by Fnideq, a coastal city in northern Morocco. They’re believed to have chosen the mountainous path to keep away from safety checkpoints.

Native information outlet Le360 reported on Saturday afternoon that as many as 294 individuals had been arrested, together with 46 Moroccans. The remainder had been reportedly from sub-Saharan Africa.

Earlier, Jaime de los Santos, Spanish lawmaker and deputy secretary of schooling for the conservative Individuals’s Get together (PP), accused Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of failing to handle the disaster, which started on July 30.

Sanchez is at present on vacation on the Royal Residence of La Mareta in Lanzarote, a typical getaway vacation spot for Spanish prime ministers.

“It’s Saturday, August fifteenth, and the week of the eclipse has already handed. Sixteen days have passed by since Spain was invaded by greater than 80,000 Moroccan residents, and Pedro Sanchez continues to be hiding in La Mareta with out giving any clarification, with out placing a cease to this disaster, and utilizing his ministers to cowl up his shameful actions,” De los Santos mentioned in an announcement.

Roughly 72,000 individuals entered Ceuta in late July, and at the least 96 individuals died making an attempt to succeed in the enclave.

Inside Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska mentioned on Thursday that about 5,000 migrants remained in Ceuta.