Up to 6,000 people have reached the Spanish port city of Ceuta over the space of two days, after swimming around border fences or walking across from neighbouring Morocco at low tide.
Among the thousands of people, mostly Moroccans, arriving in the Spanish enclave were around 1,500 minors, Spanish authorities said. Spanish troops have now been deployed to the region and around half of the new arrivals have already been returned to Morocco.
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Ceuta and Melilla – Spanish enclaves in Morocco, which share the only EU land border with an African country – have become targets for migrants from African countries.
The 6,000 people who entered Ceuta on Monday and Tuesday did so apparently after Moroccan border guards stood by and watched, Spanish media reported.
This comes during a diplomatic dispute over Brahim Ghali, one of the founders of the Polisario Front separatist movement, who is receiving treatment at a Spanish hospital.
The Polisario Front has been fighting for independence for the Western Sahara region, previously occupied by Spain but now mostly controlled by Morocco, for decades.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he was cancelling a trip to Paris to respond to the situation in Ceuta, home to 80,000 people.
