Morocco clarifies migrants’ pictures circulating on social media

FNIDEQ – Moroccan authorities said Tuesday that the pictures or videos circulating on social networks showing half-naked people sitting on the ground next to the vehicles of auxiliary forces date back several days ago.

Local sources at the M'diq-Fnideq prefecture told the Moroccan media that the videos were taken during an intervention of the public forces who managed to thwart an attempt by illegal migrants to swim to the shores of the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.

The people wearing swimsuits in the videos were rescued from the sea by the public forces, said the sources.

Moroccan authorities on Sunday prevented dozens of migrants from storming a border fence to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, after calls on social media for a mass migration attempt.

Spain's two enclaves on Morocco's Mediterranean coast, Ceuta and Melilla, share the only land borders of the European Union with Africa. The enclaves sporadically experience waves of attempted crossings by migrants trying to reach Europe.

In the most recent attempt, dozens of migrants gathered on top of a hill in Fnideq on the border on Sunday and began throwing stones at Moroccan security forces, a video shared by local news websites showed. Police prevented them from approaching the Ceuta fence.