Social Issues

Calm descends on Morocco-Spain border after night of clashes

Fnideq, Morocco, May 20 (EFE).- Calm returned to the Moroccan town of Fnideq, bordering the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, on Thursday morning following a night of clashes between riot police and groups of migrants.

The migrants were demonstrating after Moroccan border guards sealed the frontier with Ceuta after three turbulent days that saw some 8,000 people illegally cross into the Spanish territory.

Some groups threw stones at police vehicles and burned a motorcycle when tensions boiled over on Wednesday night.

But this morning Fnideq seemed back to business as usual despite a heavy police presence. Only a few of the migrants who yesterday filled the streets of the Moroccan town, which just a few kilometres from the Tarajal border crossing, remained.

Of the roughly 8,000 who breached the Ceuta border, some 5,600 were returned to Morocco in less than 48 hours.

Some 1,500 unaccompanied minors that entered Ceuta have been taken into holding centers.

Spain’s government has urged other Spanish regions to help relieve the situation in Ceuta by relocating the minors.

Madrid regional authorities agreed to take in 20 to 200 minors that had already arrived in Ceuta before the latest influx.

Ceuta has facilitated an emergency number for families in Morocco that are looking for their children. Many minors leave their families back home without consent.

The Moroccan government has yet to make an official comment in the situation and has refused to talk to the media about the sudden influx of migrants entering Spain. EFE

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