Ceuta, the siege on the border: 50 thousand entries and record victims. Why Europe is shaking over Schengen

The situation in Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in Morocco, is increasingly dramatic. Around50,000 migrants have crossed the border between Spain and Morocco in the last few hours, and half of them have already returned to their homeland. This was clarified by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, after the local governor, Juan Jesus Vivas, had spoken of 60 thousand people arriving in the enclave, recalls El Pais.

This is the most serious emergency in the area since May 2021, when over 10,000 people entered in just 48 hours. To understand the scale of the event, the figure represents approximately 50% of the entire population of the enclave, which has a total of 83,600 residents. And in fact the streets of Ceuta were transformed into an open-air dormitory during the night, while the passage across the border from Morocco continues uninterrupted.

Sánchez: “Territorial integrity violated”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the massive influx of around 40,000 migrants from Morocco into the Ceuta enclave an “attack” and a “violation of Spain’s territorial integrity”. “The Spanish government stands by the city of Ceuta. And we understand the emotion, the anguish they have felt in the last hours, especially since today”, declared the socialist prime minister during a visit to Ceuta, before defining “what happened yesterday an attack, a violation of the territorial integrity of Spain”.

Pressure at the borders has intensified considerably: according to local police sources, “there was a constant flow of people throughout the night; although arrivals were lower than during the day, migrants continued to arrive and continue to arrive this morning”. Many managed to reach Spanish territory by swimming or aboard dinghies and mattresses, celebrating their arrival with shouts of joy and thanks to the agents. Hundreds of people entered at midday under the gaze of the Guardia Civil, while the police unions denounced an unsustainable management. Together with Melilla – where the authorities announced that 300-400 people entered last night from Morocco – Ceuta represents the only land border that separates the European Union from the African continent.

Madrid sends divers and drones

Faced with worsening pressure at the borders, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior has decided to further raise the guard level. In the last few hours, Madrid has ordered the immediate dispatch of dozens of additional police officers to strengthen patrols in the enclave. An extraordinary contingent that includes eight specialized divers, new patrol boats and latest generation drones for aerial and maritime monitoring, with the aim of intercepting attempted swimming crossings along the Tarajal cliff and avoiding new tragedies at sea.

Historical record of victims: 49 deaths in 2024

Parallel to the exceptional pressure on the crossings is the human tragedy. The death toll rises to at least 34 among migrants who attempted the final swimming crossing, after another six bodies were found near the breakwater in the last few hours.

The new findings bring to 49 the total number of migrants who died in 2024 in an attempt to reach Ceuta, marking a dramatic historical record: so far the maximum number of victims was recorded in 2015, when 46 people died. The situation has worsened further in the last month: in July alone, 30 people drowned while trying to reach the city.

Meloni: “Ready to suspend Schengen with Spain”. Helsinki

also joins

The gravity of the situation pushed Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to intervene harshly on social media: “The images arriving from Ceuta are impressive and demonstrate, once again, that out-of-control illegal immigration represents a concrete threat to the security of European borders”, wrote the prime minister on X.

Meloni explained that she had met with the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi to evaluate extraordinary measures: “Italy will not stand by and watch. We are convening the relevant bodies, and at the end of these meetings we are ready to intervene with extraordinary tools to defend the borders and the safety of citizens, such as the suspension of the Schengen area with Spain“. The Prime Minister then reiterated that on illegal immigration “we will not retreat an inch: defending the borders, stopping human traffickers and ensuring effective repatriations will continue to be the line of this Government”.

The domino effect at a European level was not long in coming: Finland is also considering the suspension of the Schengen treaty with Spain due to the ongoing migration crisis in Ceuta. This was officially announced by the Finnish Minister of the Interior, Mari Rantanen, confirming how the management of the Iberian border is becoming a political case at community level.

Diplomatic clash between Rome and Madrid

Le prese di posizione del governo italiano hanno immediatamente innescato un acceso caso diplomatico con la Spagna. The tension was also triggered by a social message from Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who criticized Madrid’s choice to grant citizenship to more than 500 thousand irregular immigrants, saying he was in favor of the closure of Schengen.

The reaction of the Spanish government was immediate: the Madrid Foreign Ministry defined Tajani’s words as “unworthy”, accusing Italy of engaging in “partisan demagogy” instead of showing European solidarity, and officially summoned the Italian ambassador to Spain.