Overview
- A chaotic crossing on July 30 saw roughly 70,000 people enter Ceuta and caused dozens of deaths, leaving several thousand migrants still in the enclave.
- Thousands of residents staged flag-waving demonstrations over the past nights that turned violent and led to the tearing down and burning of makeshift camps on Trampolín beach.
- Spain's cabinet set up a 'single command' for Ceuta under Territorial Policy Minister Ángel Víctor Torres and Madrid formally asked the EU border agency Frontex for officers to help screen migrants.
- Police and military clashed with protesters and migrants, including an early-morning incident where a military vehicle was attacked with stones, one soldier was hurt, and multiple migrants were arrested.
- The episode has intensified strain with Morocco after Moroccan ministers publicly questioned Spanish sovereignty and it is forcing Spain and the EU to balance faster returns, child protection transfers to the mainland, legal limits on summary expulsions, and local humanitarian needs.