Emergency in Ceuta due to the record number of migrants who swam from Morocco to seek asylum in Spain.
Following the mass arrivals at the land border and over 1,500 sea arrivals in a week (with crossings that also resulted in at least eleven deaths), the Ceuta assembly, through an emergency meeting of group leaders, approved a motion calling on the Spanish government to immediately close the border with Morocco, deploy the army, and declare a state of national emergency.
In the last few hours, alongside the sea arrivals, hundreds of young Moroccans have also managed to enter the Spanish enclave in Morocco, Europe's southern border, on foot, bypassing the Tarajal breakwater.
The parties in Madrid are demanding that the border be closed as an "urgent and urgent" measure and that the army be deployed to "guarantee the safety of citizens." They also urge the population to maintain "serenity and calm," recalling that Ceuta "has already overcome critical situations thanks to the maturity and solidarity of its citizens."
The central government has agreed to this request—to deploy the army: "The armed forces will reinforce the Guardia Civil in carrying out their duties and in any other duties that may be necessary to maintain security in the city of Ceuta. The mobilized troops will be coordinated by the operations command and will support the Guardia Civil," the government announced.
Tajani: in favor of blocking Schengen
"I support closing the Schengen area with Spain and have full confidence in Minister Piantedosi's actions. Irregular and uncontrolled immigration poses a threat to national security. The images coming from Ceuta demonstrate how the Madrid government's decision to grant Spanish, and therefore European, citizenship to over 500,000 irregular immigrants is profoundly flawed and encourages human trafficking." Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote this in X.
(Unioneonline)