Spain and Morocco reinforced the border fence of a Spanish enclave on Friday and appeared to have halted mass crossings, after around 49,000 people arrived by sea and land in a single day, with at least 19 bodies found in the water.
The mass crossing into Ceuta, a Spanish-held enclave jutting into the Mediterranean from Morocco, caused division in Europe, with Italy threatening to suspend the EU's internal open border scheme.
At the gates into Ceuta, Moroccan authorities deployed water cannon trucks and pushed people back. The charred remains of a bus and seven cars could be seen nearby following 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 has imposed new restrictions on special "border rejection" rules allowing immediate expulsions.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was due to visit Ceuta on Friday with Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish autonomous city in northern Morocco, have the European Union's only land borders with Africa. The two cities are each home to around 85,000 people.
Both cities periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach Europe, but nearly 50,000 crossings in a single day appears to be unprecedented. Spain described it as the biggest crisis since at least 2021.
Territorial Policy Minister Angel Victor Torres said on Friday that one factor contributing to the surge may have been a ruling by Spain's Supreme Court earlier this month that migrants intercepted at sea while attempting to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot be summarily returned under special rules.
Migrants ran and cheered as they crossed on foot into the North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco after swimming over from the Moroccan side and overwhelming police at the city's breakwater, according to Spain's Guardia Civil.
Torres told a local radio station the Spanish government had reacted immediately to the surge and would proceed to return the migrants while respecting court rulings and migrants' rights.
On the Moroccan side of the border, thousands of migrants streamed into the town of Fnideq overnight despite a reinforced security deployment that foiled most attempts to cross. Although the crossing appeared blocked, groups moved along the coast seeking routes around the fence. Some prepared to swim.
"I was late," said Brahim, 32, who gave only one name. He said he had arrived from Tangier hoping to cross through the gate but found it effectively shut. Among those hoping to cross were women and children from both Morocco and Sub-Saharan African countries farther south.
In a post on X, Spain's Guardia Civil police association AUGC said there had been too few police deployed to monitor the fence during Thursday's surge, leaving them unable to stop it.
"Migratory policies require a deep revision that addresses the reality of the southern border and guarantees respect for the dignity and human rights of the migrants and refugees who arrive in Ceuta," said a joint statement by several local migrant groups, adding that resources in Ceuta were insufficient.
Migration is a sensitive issue across Europe, where right-wing parties have surged over the decade since the 2015 migration crisis, when more than a million people crossed the continent, mainly on foot, seeking asylum, most of them fleeing the war in Syria.
Italy's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her country was prepared "to intervene with extraordinary measures to defend the borders and the safety of citizens, including the suspension of the Schengen Area with Spain," referring to the EU's internal border-free zone.
While Spain's Socialist government says it remains firm against illegal crossings, it argues that immigrants help strengthen the economy and has offered a mass amnesty under which hundreds of thousands of people have sought citizenship over the past year.
"The images coming from Ceuta show how the Madrid Government's decision to grant Spanish, and therefore European, citizenship to over 500,000 irregular immigrants is profoundly wrong and encourages human trafficking," Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares replied that Tajani's message was "inappropriate" and said Spain expected "solidarity and not partisan demagoguery" from its partner. He added that he would summon the Italian ambassador to lodge a protest.
