Spain and Morocco reinforced the border fence of a Spanish enclave on Friday and appeared to have largely halted mass crossings after tens of thousands of people arrived by sea and land in a day, with at least 19 dead bodies found in the water.
The Spanish Department of National Security said on its website that more than 49,000 people were estimated to have crossed illegally in 24 hours, citing the Interior Ministry. The statement was later deleted from the website with no immediate explanation.
The mass crossing into Ceuta, a tiny Spanish-held spit jutting into the Mediterranean from Morocco, caused shock and division in Europe. France said it was increasing checks on its border with Spain, and Italy threatened to suspend Spain from the EU’s internal open border scheme.
At the gates into Ceuta, Moroccan authorities had deployed water cannon trucks and pushed people back. The charred remains of a bus and seven cars could be seen nearby from clashes with the crowds.
Spanish authorities said they would try to expel those who had entered illegally as quickly as possible, despite a court ruling that put some restrictions on special “border rejection” rules that allow immediate expulsions from the enclave.
Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish autonomous city in northern Morocco, have the European Union’s only land borders with Africa. The two cities, each home to around 85,000 people, both periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach Europe, but the scale of Thursday’s rush had little precedent.
