Between 3,000 and 5,000 migrants still in Ceuta after surge across border from Morocco
Spain's Ceuta is still reeling from a rush of around 72,000 migrants arriving on its shores in one week.
Between 3,000 and 5,000 migrants are still in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after tens of thousands surged across the border from Morocco.
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Mayor-President of Ceuta, Juan Jesus Vivas, also said on Thursday during an EU parliamentary meeting that some 100 people died during the massive border rush last week.
Though the vast majority of migrants have since returned to Morocco, thousands remain, Vivas said.
Encouraged by a handful of viral videos, including some posted by a Spanish news outlet intended to highlight the burden of migration, the movement of a few dozen youths quickly swelled to tens of thousands swimming en masse.
A catalyst came three weeks earlier, when Spain's Supreme Court published a ruling saying migrants caught at sea could not be immediately pushed back at the border of Spain's North African territories of Ceuta and Melilla.
The ruling does not preclude their summary return afterwards, legal experts said.
Ceuta has long drawn migrants hoping to build a new life in Europe. But as misinterpretations of the ruling spread – including claims anyone who reached Ceuta, by sea or land, could not be returned – more and more people made the journey.
Read more: Why does Spain have Ceuta and Melilla enclaves in Africa?
Read more: What happened to Ceuta's migrants and how has Spain responded?
By July 23, about 100 people had reached Ceuta, according to El Faro de Ceuta, a local news outlet that linked the arrivals to the Supreme Court decision.
The footage El Faro broadcast online of young men grinning and flashing thumbs-up and V-signs in Ceuta had the unintended effect of encouraging more people to attempt the crossing, according to migrants interviewed by Reuters.
Hundreds began to swim across.
Another spur came on July 28, when a new El Faro report with the caption "Ceuta can't take it anymore" showed two grinning, waterlogged young women walking the city's streets after making the crossing.
The clip was widely viewed in Morocco, according to three migrants interviewed by Reuters.
The next day, social media was flooded with videos as influencers with tens of thousands of followers posted clips of themselves swimming to Ceuta, some with wetsuits and swim rings.
Mounim Belhaj, a dog groomer with 31,000 Instagram followers, said he decided to go after seeing reports about migrants being housed at Ceuta's reception centre.
"Spanish media were showing good treatment of migrants arriving in Spain and that encouraged us a lot to go there," he said.
Chat groups also appear to have played a role.
By the next evening, hunger and hostility had driven the vast majority to go back. Thousands remain stranded, particularly sub-Saharan Africans and unaccompanied minors who cannot be deported.
Roughly 1,100 unaccompanied minors arrived before and during the influx, and cannot be summarily deported, according to the local government.
Many are lodged in makeshift accommodation in warehouses or sleeping on the streets as Ceuta's reception centres are full.
Charities and residents' groups said they were trying to help children sleeping rough, along with pregnant women.
Hamza Sitouni Moreno, a 40-year-old local, said he had taken children to the authorities but been turned away, so he had a young girl sleeping in his car for safety, and had built makeshift shelters for other children and provided them with food and blankets.
"So many people arrived ... the authorities cannot handle this," he said.