Migrant crisis: ‘Largest migrant group in decade’ storms Spanish Ceuta enclave

At least 400 migrants have forced their way into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, bordering Morocco, on 9 December. It was the biggest group to have stormed the city in a decade, authorities said.

"You have to go back to the early 2000s to see numbers like this," a local government spokesman told AFP.

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The group forced their way through two entry points in the six-metre-high barrier surrounding the enclave, the spokesman continued.

Footage posted online by the El Faro de Ceuta newspaper showed migrants shouting "Spain!" as they crossed into Ceuta.

At least 25 people were taken to hospital following the assault, with the Red Cross saying it treated 103 people for minor injuries.

A similar incident occurred in October, when around 220 people managed to storm two entry points into Ceuta. At the time, at least 35 migrants and three security officers were injured.

Although the enclave of Ceita, along with its sister city of Melilla, sit on the northern side of Morocco, Spain claims both territories are integral part of their nations and they have been given the status of semi-autonomous regions on Spanish mainland.

The two enclaves are often used by migrants to cross into Europe and obtain a temporary Spanish residency permit.

In 2014, at least 15 migrants died as they tried to swim from Moroccan into Spanish territorial waters when police allegedly opened fire on them. Following controversy surrounding the alleged Ceuta's Civil Guards' response, Spain's interior ministry published a video claiming it exonerated border police from blame for the alleged shooting of Moroccan asylum-seekers.

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