They learned about it from social media: Moroccans speak out on why thousands set out for Ceuta
Mohammed Ahmidho was one of many Moroccans who, on Thursday morning, saw in their social media feeds that the heavily guarded border between Morocco and Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous territory, had been opened.
Without hesitating, the man joined a crowd of tens of thousands of people. He recalled that many were surprised to see Moroccan police urging them to "go to Spain."
Some, like him, climbed over the barrier, others slipped through holes in the wire fence, and still others reached Spanish territory by swimming through the sea. Some wore wetsuits and churned the water with fins, while others simply floated toward the Spanish coast wearing orange life jackets and pink inflatable swim rings. The chaos killed at least 60 people.
"There were a lot of people," said the 37-year-old man. "Very many."
According to Spain's Interior Ministry, Mohammed was one of about 50,000 people who crossed into the Spanish city, home to just 84,000 residents, on Thursday and in the early hours of Friday. The influx was more intense than at any point during the height of the European migration crisis in 2015.
On Friday morning, the scenes in the city embodied the extraordinary situation that Europe had tried so hard to avoid since the beginning of the era of mass migration 11 years ago. It was the latest time such a mass of people flooded into European-controlled territory, turning the continent's politics upside down and spurring the rise of anti-immigrant right-wing political forces.
Residents locked themselves in their homes. They locked their shops. Meanwhile, groups of young men with nowhere to go flooded Ceuta's squares, avenues, apartment courtyards, lookout points and underpasses.
Some newcomers swam as a Spanish Navy vessel patrolled the waters, while others waded through floating debris caught in the current — plastic bags and water bottles. Some Moroccans walked along a beach strewn with the belongings of those who had arrived together: shoes, phone cases, and even a diver's suit and an identity card issued in Casablanca lying among them.
On Thursday, mobilized Spanish soldiers stood on nearby tanks. They watched migrants drink water from beach showers, each of which was vertical, surfboard-like in shape and marked with slogans that had acquired an ironic edge: "Ceuta — where emotions lead."
Nearby, to the roar of patrol helicopters, teenagers laughed, determined to try out the exercise equipment in the beach playground.
Mohammed stood bare-chested, wearing tight pink briefs, a black T-shirt slung over his shoulder. After having to scramble over rocks near the border, the soles of his feet were cut.
The journey, the man said, was pure frustration. Like many others, he set out to find work but was met by soldiers and police officers who were keeping him out.
"There is no water, no food, nowhere to sleep," Mohammed said. "There is nothing."
As migrants spread through the streets, locals rushed to hide in their homes. Shops and businesses never opened that morning.
Francisco Perez, 68, briefly stepped outside as migrants passed by and hurriedly put his grandchildren into a car. He said his granddaughter asked why they could not go to the beach and why there were "so many Moroccans" here. In his view, Ceuta's residents were frightened and angry at the Spanish government, which, he said, had abandoned them.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez tried to head off such emotions and rushed to the exclave on Friday morning to show support for residents and condemn the migrant influx as "a violation of Spain's territorial integrity."
For right-wing critics of Sánchez — both in Spain and across Europe and the world, including the White House — the migrant surge became an opportunity to condemn his pro-immigration policies.
The Spanish government this year granted more than 1 million migrants living illegally in the country permission to apply for legal residence status. His opponents argue the move helped attract even more migrants.
Videos showing migrants pouring into the small Spanish territory became a key talking point for immigration opponents. Ceuta unexpectedly became an international symbol illustrating the dangers of uncontrolled illegal immigration.
Sánchez, for his part, accused human smugglers of misleading migrants into believing that asylum is easy to obtain in Spain. According to the prime minister, despite his migrant-friendly policies, fewer migrants have tried to enter Spain illegally in recent years than some other European countries.
It remains unclear why such a mass of people arrived in Ceuta. Many Moroccans roaming Ceuta on Friday speculated whether the border had been opened as part of some unknown Moroccan plan. The country has previously faced accusations of using migrant flows to exert political pressure.
"I don't know why they let us through," said 24-year-old Ayoub el-Arrot, who also said he learned about the border opening from social media.
"Maybe they had some political reasons. They opened the border and let everyone through," he speculated. "When there are political troubles, Morocco opens the gates and tells us to go."
Douae Tabit, 19, who read on social media about the possibility of crossing from Morocco to Spain, said the news went viral online and also spread rapidly by word of mouth, drawing people from all over Morocco.
The woman, who is fluent in English, French and Spanish and had previously worked as a nurse and photographer, spontaneously decided to take advantage of the opportunity.
After climbing over the fence and swimming to the Spanish shore, Douae admitted she had expected a warmer welcome. According to her, no one had food, water or a place to sleep. Still, she declared: "I will not go back."
Many seemed not even to know exactly what they were doing in Ceuta.
Young men, some stripped to the waist or wearing football jerseys, marched barefoot, sometimes with only one sandal, as if taking part in a procession with no direction.
One teenager knocked softly on the gates of a closed food market, while others loitered around closed shopping centers, gazing longingly at their doors.
As afternoon approached and the blazing sun dispersed the clouds, the men had to seek shade wherever they could. One group gathered under a giant statue of Hercules near the port terminal. Others leaned against the columns of a gas station or hid under abandoned empty tents set up for a local food fair.
There were also those rummaging through garbage containers in search of food or asking passersby for water. One woman fainted outside the Zara clothing store.
Sulayman Ahmed, a 15-year-old Ceuta resident of Moroccan descent, said he could not believe that Morocco was letting in such a large number of people.
"They need to devote more resources to stop the flow of people," the teenager noted, complaining that the appearances of politicians, including Sánchez, at the border were just "theater."
As the day wore on, many migrants began leaving Ceuta. Along the promenade, they gathered around Spanish soldiers who, connecting a mobile phone to loudspeakers, played messages in Arabic urging them to return home.
Other Spanish military personnel and police officers tried to achieve that by force, threatening migrants and waving batons to push them back toward the border. Small groups of young Spaniards roamed the city, chasing and intimidating Moroccan stragglers.
As individual arrivals were still wading through the water late in the evening, Moroccans were already being sent back in large numbers.
According to Spain's Interior Ministry, about 48,300 people had been returned across the border by 6 p.m. local time.
They had to cross a small beach stretching between the border fences of the two countries. The sand was littered with clothes and plastic bags. The shouts of Spanish soldiers echoed, telling migrants to leave Ceuta. Then they passed through iron gates with barbed wire and floodlights. They were in Morocco again.
Mohammed moved along with a long line, feeling frustrated by his adventure on the other side of the border.
"They had nothing for us," he said. "They just shouted: 'Get the hell out of Spain!'"
