Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has again rejected allegations that Moroccan authorities helped organise the mass influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, while acknowledging that Moroccan security forces allowed migrants to cross the border during the height of the crisis.
Sánchez defended his government’s handling of the crisis on Thursday as pressure mounted over the humanitarian situation and the official response to the mass crossing.
The prime minister’s comments came a day after tens of thousands of Spaniards took part in protests in cities across the country, demanding urgent action to address the crisis in Ceuta and calling for Sánchez’s resignation.
In late July, an estimated 72,000 migrants reportedly swam, scrambled and charged across the border into Ceuta, a Spanish territory in North Africa with a population of about 84,000.
Most of the migrants were returned to Morocco or escorted back across the border within days. However, around 5,000 people, including approximately 1,200 minors, were still in Ceuta weeks after the incident, according to the Spanish national government. Local authorities have reported a higher figure.
Sánchez said 141 people died while attempting to reach the enclave, significantly higher than previous estimates from Spanish and Moroccan authorities. However, neither his office nor Spain’s Interior Ministry immediately provided details explaining how the new death toll had been calculated.
The circumstances surrounding the unprecedented border crossing remain under scrutiny, with the Spanish government previously attributing the surge partly to an online social media campaign encouraging migrants to travel to Ceuta.
Spanish media reported earlier in the week that a police report had highlighted what it described as the permissive attitude of Moroccan security forces during the incident. Spanish officials, however, denied that the report directly accused Rabat of orchestrating the mass crossing.
Sánchez said on Thursday that during a 10-hour period on July 30, when migrant arrivals reached their peak, Moroccan Gendarmerie forces “allowed the border to be crossed.”
Despite the admission, the Spanish government has continued to reject claims that Morocco deliberately organised or encouraged the influx.
Sánchez also criticised recent comments by two Moroccan ministers questioning Spain’s sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish enclave in North Africa.
He said Madrid had summoned Morocco’s ambassador over the remarks.
The Spanish prime minister announced that his government would publish key reports concerning the border breach, which has been described as the deadliest such incident in recent memory. However, he did not provide a timeline for their release or disclose what information they would contain.
Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo strongly criticised Sánchez’s handling of the crisis during a parliamentary session.
“Us Spaniards are at the same time perplexed and outraged in the face of the violation of our territorial integrity,” Feijóo said.
He also expressed solidarity with residents of Ceuta, saying, “We will not leave you alone; the State has not surrendered.”
The crisis has intensified scrutiny of Sánchez’s government as thousands of migrants remain in the small enclave, which local authorities say lacks the capacity to accommodate such a large influx.
Questions have also emerged over conflicting accounts from senior Spanish officials about whether authorities had advance warning of the border rush.
The Defence Ministry said last week that Spain’s intelligence agency had provided prior warning of the impending mass crossing, while the Interior Ministry and other government officials disputed that account.
Ceuta and Melilla are strategically important Spanish territories because they contain the European Union’s only land borders with Africa.
With the humanitarian crisis continuing to generate political pressure, Sánchez has pledged greater transparency and promised to release official reports aimed at clarifying how the mass border crossing occurred and the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
