Spain deploys additional riot police to Ceuta and Melilla amid feared border assaults
The Interior Ministry plans to send extra National Police riot units to Ceuta and Melilla as officials warn of possible large-scale border attacks from Morocco.
Spain's Interior Ministry is set to augment one outlet security presence in Ceuda and Melilla with additional National Police riot squads, pending a decision on the exact number of officers to be added. About 170 riot police are currently operating in six shifts, though none of the groups are fully staffed. The boost will stay active for several weeks as intelligence agencies monitor a possible large-scale border incursion from Morocco, a risk that appears tied to the upcoming Moroccan elections.
Both the Policía Nacional and the Guardia Civil report that the timing of any mass crossing remains unclear. The deployment is also intended to improve overall safety in the cities, where authorities believe official migrant figures underestimate the true number of people hiding in abandoned structures and even sewers. Despite the heightened alert, officials acknowledge that no formal written protocol exists for handling a new border assault.
Why it matters
Increased police presence highlights ongoing migration tensions and security challenges at Spain's North African borders.
How this story developed
- Aug 21 Spanish police detain five suspected migrant smugglers operating from Ceuta
- Sep 10 Judge María Tardón filed a request for copies of the declassified intelligence reports.
- Sep 10 Regional economy minister asserted that the national government possessed advance intelligence on the Ceuta crossing and did not implement preventive measures.
- Sep 11 Czech and Hungarian leaders condemned the EU’s emergency aid for Ceuta.
- Sep 11 Gonzalo Sanz, chief of staff to the Government delegate in Ceuta, stepped down after receiving CNI alerts about a massive migrant arrival.
- Sep 12 A police‑commissioned report described Moroccan border police as unusually sparse and granting migrants “total permission.”
- Sep 13 Minister Sira Rego urged autonomous communities to assume responsibility for Ceuta’s unaccompanied minors.
- Sep 13 The foreign minister announced an urgent trip to Brussels for talks with EU officials.
- Sep 16 The Guardia Civil raided a cramped apartment on Real street in central Ceuta, finding 25 migrants - six of them minors - living in squalid conditions.
- Sep 18 The Audiencia Nacional's Contentious‑Administrative Chamber approved the use of Ceuta port for a temporary migrant shelter.
- Sep 18 The government and defence ministry secured an unprecedented public clarification from the CNI regarding the pre‑surge intelligence alert.
- Sep 18 about 850 migrants were settled in 50 tents at the port while others returned to beach camps
- Sep 19 The port camp filled within hours, leaving many migrants still without shelter on the streets and beaches.
- Sep 20 Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez publicly shifted blame onto Ceuta mayor Juan Jesús Vivas during a press encounter, intensifying the political dispute.
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