Ministers were under pressure today to stop thousands of Africans who stormed a Spanish territory from reaching the UK.
Spanish troops struggled to restore order after 60,000 migrants surged into Ceuta – a Spanish city on Morocco’s coast – by land and sea on Thursday.
The Conservatives and Reform UK called on ministers to take immediate action to strengthen Britain’s borders following the biggest ever one-day surge of illegal migrants into the EU.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel said some of those crossing would ‘inevitably try to make their way to the UK’.
Reform leader Nigel Farage warned: ‘Thousands of young men, lots of them dangerous, will be heading towards Calais and our country. It’s time to wake up. This is a battle for our civilisation.’
Andy Burnham said the situation was a ’cause for concern’. He added that officials were in contact with their Spanish counterparts ‘to provide support but also to understand the implications’.
But there was no sign of immediate action to reinforce Britain’s borders.
The Prime Minister’s deputy, Louise Haigh, said events in Ceuta were ‘extremely concerning’, but added: ‘It’s not an invading nation or force. It’s a lot of people crossing over a border, attempting to enter another country, and we need to stop those people entering our country illegally.’
Ministers are under pressure to stop thousands of Africans who stormed a Spanish territory from reaching the UK
Andy Burnham said the situation was a ’cause for concern’ but has not announced any plans to reinforce Britain’s borders
However, the scenes in Ceuta caused anger and panic across Europe as infighting broke out among EU member states.
In a move backed by Finland, Italian prime minister Georgia Meloni called for Spain to be suspended from the EU’s borderless Schengen zone.
She unilaterally suspended Italy’s Schengen arrangements with the Spanish.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the influx into Ceuta was ‘unacceptable’ and urged Spain to get a grip, adding: ‘We cannot allow anyone to come to our union without abiding by our rules. Dangerous crossings must stop immediately.’
France said it would introduce stricter controls on its border with Spain. Polish PM Donald Tusk said his country had spent billions strengthening its border with Belarus to protect Europe from illegal migrants.
He added: ‘Spain must follow our example if Schengen is to survive.’
But Spain’s socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez hit back, saying more migrants had entered the EU illegally via Italy, Greece and the western Balkans in recent years.
Speaking from Ceuta, where he was heckled, he described Thursday’s events as an ‘attack on Spain’, and insisted his government was working to return the thousands who arrived back to Morocco.
There was speculation that Morocco may have engineered the influx to pile diplomatic pressure on Spain.
Haizam Amirah Fernandez, director of the Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies in Madrid, said: ‘The displacement of such a large number of people from Morocco to Ceuta could not have taken place without the Moroccan authorities knowing about or without them allowing such a phenomenon to occur.’
The influx came as border controls collapsed on Thursday. Thousands of young men swam into the territory from Morocco while others smashed through fences.
It followed a ruling by Spain’s supreme court last month that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla, another Spanish territory in Morocco, cannot be immediately returned.
The chaos in Ceuta also spread to Melilla overnight, with warning shots reportedly fired from both sides of the border between Morocco and Melilla on Friday as police attempted to contain the crowds.
In a letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Dame Priti called for strengthened procedures at the English Channel and Gibraltar, where Labour recently agreed a deal to dismantle the land border with Spain, allowing people to simply walk across to the Rock.
Ceuta is separated from mainland Spain by the Strait of Gibraltar.
Dame Priti warned that Spain’s recent amnesty for illegal migrants had become a magnet for migrants heading for Europe.
Over ten weeks, almost 1.2million applied for the scheme for undocumented migrants who had lived in the country for at least five months by the end of last year.
People gather on a hilltop close to the site of clashes near Fnideq, on the Morocco-Spain border, on July 31, 2026
Spain has claimed it is under ‘attack’ as Europe threatens to close its border with the country while the government battles to manage a massive wave of migrants
Dame Priti urged Mr Miliband to take up the issue with Spain, saying there was ‘potential for more migrants to attempt to enter the UK through illegal means as a result of receiving an amnesty from Spain’.
Mr Farage said: ‘Spain gave an amnesty to half a million people who had illegally got into the country.
‘The messages from Spain are clear – come in and you will be allowed to stay. Schengen allows these migrants an easy route to Calais.
‘In a few months they will be queuing to cross the English Channel.’
The day 60,000 migrants swept their way into Europe: Wave after wave of incomers storm Spanish territory from neighbouring Morocco as protesters throw Nazi salutes
By Andy Jehring and Gerard Couzens
Tens of thousands of migrants are laying siege to Europe after swimming, climbing and running through the EU border into Spain‘s African outpost of Ceuta.
Shocking images show wave after wave of predominantly young men exploiting lax security to storm the city from neighbouring Morocco.
The stampede of more than 60,000 incomers began on Thursday, and has engulfed the tiny territory of seven square miles and 84,000 Spaniards.
Last night, 57 were said to have died in their attempts to get to Ceuta as journalists reported 200 migrants arriving every minute.
The hills behind the border were overrun with crowds making for the city – from where they may try to cross the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain’s mainland.
Violence erupted on the streets last night with crowds of shirtless men seen hurling projectiles and punching locals.
Italy has suspended its EU Schengen agreement with Spain, which allows free movement of people between the states – a move now being considered by Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Sweden.
Morocco deployed water cannon to push back those leaving its territory. But experts fear it could have instigated the influx to force Spain into negotiations to hand over Ceuta, which it has long sought for itself.
Thousands of migrants gather on the beach at the Morocco-Spain border on July 31
A group of migrants wade through the water near the Tarajal border crossing in Ceuta
Migrants move through a security fence topped with razor wire at the border with Ceuta
The charred remains of a bus and several cars could be seen following violent clashes as Spanish soldiers fired tear gas grenades.
But they appeared powerless against what Donald Trump called an ‘invasion’ as immigrants tore up the border fence and torched security vehicles.
The chaos spread to Ceuta’s sister city of Melilla 140 miles east, where hundreds breached the border last night.
In Ceuta the arrivals were heard thanking King Felipe of Spain and cheering: ‘Bye bye, Morocco – hello, Spain!’ Locals criticised Madrid for ‘abandoning’ them.
Lawyer Manuel Jurado said: ‘There are people everywhere and there’s violence now in the city. We can’t consent to a city that’s been completely invaded and people in the street who can’t eat.
‘They haven’t got access to toilets and they’re doing what they need to do in the streets. The border is still open. We need help.’
Ceuta taxi driver Mohammed said: ‘It’s catastrophic. We sympathise with them. They’re having a terrible time in their own country. But this isn’t the way to enter a place, nor is it a way to live.’
Luis, another local, said: ‘Fights are breaking out in the city.
Moroccan security forces watch thousands of migrants on a hillside at the border with Spain
A vehicle burns at the site of clashes between migrants and security forces near Fnideq, on the Morocco-Spain border
Moroccan security forces use water canon to disperse the crowds at Spain’s north Africa’s Cueta enclave
‘I’ve bought tickets to leave but I’m still not sure what to do. I don’t want to leave my house here empty even for the weekend because I’m not sure what I’ll come back to.’
In Madrid, hundreds of anti-migrant protesters – some performing Nazi salutes – rallied outside Morocco’s embassy yesterday evening to denounce what they called a migrant ‘invasion’ of Ceuta.
‘Spain, Christian and not Muslim!’ and ‘National unity!’ protesters chanted, many dressed entirely in black.
Some demonstrators carried a large banner reading ‘Remigration’ – a term promoted by several far-Right groups in Europe that refers to the forced or encouraged return of migrants or people of immigrant background.
Angry residents shouted ‘Son of a b****’ at prime minister Pedro Sanchez, who was addressing the nation from Ceuta’s city hall.
He blamed trafficking gangs for the influx into Ceuta, which is often targeted by migrants during the summer in pushes organised on social media.
But nothing on this scale has been seen before, and it is thought that a ruling by Spain’s Supreme Court last month, allowing migrants entering illegally by sea to remain, may have encouraged traffickers.
The absence of Moroccan border guards also made the invasion easier for those desperate to leave a life of unemployment and poverty.
Mr Sanchez said: ‘What has emerged from talks with Moroccan authorities is that trafficking mafias took a self-serving interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling which spread like wildfire.’
While politicians claimed 48,000 of those who have arrived had already returned to Morocco, those on the ground disputed this. One claimed they were going back only to return with their entire families.
Tensions flared at an overflowing temporary migration reception centre, and armed police struggled to quell the violence.
Migrants cross back to Morocco after they crossed into Cueta under the supervision of Spanish army soldiers
A group of migrants pictured standing in the water and waving as a Spanish army soldier keeps guard
A topless migrant from Morocco arrives at the Spanish border in Ceuta, Spain
Officers had to wrest crutches from injured migrants who were using them as weapons, while others were seen filling their pockets with stones to attack locals.
Enrique Roviralta, president of the Ceuta Medical Union, said: ‘Ceuta’s 80,000 inhabitants feel at the moment like state orphans.
‘The same 30,000 or 40,000 migrants who arrived here yesterday and slept outdoors are still roaming the streets today in the same swimming trunks they were wearing when they arrived.
‘The city is practically closed. There’s a lot of fear here.’
Morocco has claimed sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla since its independence in 1956, but Spain rejects any negotiation over the two cities.
Spanish migration specialist Ignacio Cembrero said: ‘The Moroccan authorities have seen an opportunity to force Spain to negotiate the future of these cities.’
Carlos Echeverria, of the Ceuta and Melilla Observatory, blamed Morocco, stating: ‘The most important thing, the backdrop, is that permanent blackmail.’
