Spain and Morocco are preparing for a possible mass attempt to cross into Ceuta and Melilla this Wednesday. It would be the sixth such alert since July. Both countries have reinforced their border deployments, and the expected movement coincides with Morocco's legislative elections. Reuters, as cited in Spanish-language reports, said Moroccan authorities detained at least 111 people heading towards Ceuta after online calls for a collective crossing.
The Spanish response will be largest in Ceuta. Around 150 additional officers will join the existing deployment between Tuesday and Wednesday. The Guardia Civil will also expand its coverage by suspending rest days and leave arrangements.
From Tuesday night until 4 p.m. Wednesday, three platoons from the Guardia Civil Reserve and Security Groups will operate at the border. The unit adds about 60 personnel, bringing the force to 120 officers at night and 90 during the day. Interior Ministry sources say the numbers could rise if the alert becomes a real threat.
The Guardia Civil has 706 officers serving in Ceuta, including 195 sent after the July crossing. It will also double its use of helicopters and drones during the day and at night. The Policía Nacional is sending two additional riot-police groups, with 75 officers in total. One unit scheduled to leave will stay until at least Wednesday afternoon.
Spain’s Foreign Ministry in Rabat has stressed that an irregular entry through Ceuta or Melilla does not confer the right to travel to mainland Spain or settle there, nor does it allow free movement within the European Union. The message was part of a public deterrence campaign on social media ahead of the expected date.
Morocco has already established a large security cordon around the approaches. Metal barriers extend roughly ten metres into the sea. Concertina wire, police checks and Gendarmerie patrols cover roads leading towards the crossing points. Some sources put the Moroccan deployment at close to 3,000 personnel, including military units.
The alert follows calls circulated through social networks and messaging channels for collective attempts on 8, 9, 12 and 15 August, as well as 20 September. The first three warnings had not previously been made public. None led to impressive border movements. The most serious episode came on 15 August, when hundreds of migrants, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, tried to reach the fenced area. Moroccan forces stopped them in an operation described as unprecedented.
Melilla will receive a smaller reinforcement. The Guardia Civil will keep a helicopter on permanent duty, add three GRS platoons with about 60 officers and deploy a maritime patrol vessel. The city's underwater activities unit will also get additional support. The Policía Nacional does not currently plan to add officers to its Melilla deployment, which already includes 60 UIP personnel sent at the beginning of August.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska confirmed the preventive reinforcement of both cities in response to online calls linked to 23 September. Authorities have also used social media to discourage further irregular crossings. RTVE reported that, as of 20 September, the Interior Ministry had no confirmation of a new mass entry despite the warnings circulating online.
The chain of alerts began after nearly 80,000 people crossed by swimming from Morocco into Ceuta on 30 and 31 July, information from the Interior Ministry account cited in an earlier report. That episode led to additional Guardia Civil personnel in Ceuta and remains the operational reference for current preparations.
The forces now heading to the border point to a preventive response, not a confirmed new entry attempt. Dates circulated online have repeatedly prompted deployments without producing a major crossing. The scale of the Spanish and Moroccan measures shows that authorities consider the risk concrete enough to require immediate staffing, air surveillance and maritime support.
For residents and public services in both autonomous cities, the practical effect is a heavily reinforced border during the election period. The response draws on the July experience, while repeated emergency deployments leave border management focused on escalation rather than stability.
