Anger in Spain: Was the migrant crisis an attack?

 

Martin Mederyd Hårdh/TT

 

Published 07.01

       

      Spanish border police in the foreground watch as throngs of migrants attempt to get around the border        fence into Ceuta and onto Spanish soil on July 30. File photo. Photo: Antonio Sempere/AP/TT

Has Morocco launched an attack on Spain, using masses of migrants as a weapon?

The Spanish government downplays the idea that the summer's migrant crisis was a Moroccan plot—but it would not be the first time, and angry crowds are demanding action.

One day in late July, up to 80,000 people appeared at the border, catching the Spanish guards off guard. The migrants did whatever they could—climbing, swimming, pushing—to make their way from Morocco to the more prosperous little enclave of Ceuta and onto EU soil.

The government in Madrid declared a state of crisis and deployed the military. Around a hundred people drowned in the chaos, and the death toll is still rising weeks later.

"This was possible thanks to Morocco's participation or acquiescence," said Juan Jesús Vivas, the long-serving mayor of Ceuta and a member of Spain's opposition party, the PP, at a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday.

"Hybrid warfare"

Morocco flatly denies this, but the claim is met with widespread skepticism in Spain. At the very least, Moroccan police refrained from intervening for about ten hours.

According to information from the Spanish border police, Moroccan police forces helped drive large groups of people toward Ceuta—specifically to cause the Spanish border control system to collapse. Plainclothes agents were reportedly identified within the crowds. One of Spain’s highest courts has launched an investigation and made a preliminary assessment that the migrants have been used as tools in hybrid warfare.

However, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez downplays this, stating that he has seen no "clear evidence" of a deliberate Moroccan attack. He points to disinformation as a major factor.

Has it worked before?

The opposition accuses Sánchez of being soft on both Morocco and the migrants. "Why are you afraid of Morocco?" asks PP leader Alberto Feijóo. "Traitor," exclaims far-right leader Santiago Abascal. Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated, demanding that the government take stronger measures to protect Ceuta.

Most of the migrants have left Ceuta, but a few thousand remain. Vivas, the mayor of the enclave, describes the situation as unsustainable—and also points out that this has happened before.

A similar upheaval occurred in May 2021, when several thousand migrants attempted to reach Ceuta and Melilla suddenly and simultaneously. This took place amidst a bitter dispute between Spain and Morocco regarding the status of the contested Western Sahara. The surge was more or less openly described as a pressure tactic, and Morocco was accused of exploiting vulnerable people for political blackmail.

That episode ended with Spain and Pedro Sánchez acceding to Morocco’s position on Western Sahara. The EU Commission concluded a new multi-billion-euro agreement with Morocco for continued assistance in halting migrants. 

Facts

Spanish North Africa

For several centuries, Spain has controlled small coastal areas, rocky outcrops, and barren islands in North Africa; the densely populated exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are the largest among them. They are entirely surrounded by present-day Morocco.

Ceuta is situated on a headland by the Strait of Gibraltar, a short boat ride from the southern tip of the Spanish mainland. Melilla lies further east and formally includes the barren Chafarinas Islands, located near the border between Morocco and Algeria. Each of the two territories has a population of just over 80,000.

These areas have been under Spanish control since the early voyages of discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, when Catholic monarchs took the first steps toward Christianizing Africa. Morocco has laid claim to the territories since gaining independence in 1956.

The exclaves contain the EU's only land borders on the African continent. This makes them attractive destinations for migrants seeking to reach the Union, particularly as perilous boat smuggling across the sea has been curtailed.