African Enclave, After a Spanish Supreme Court Ruling on July 29 Protected Migrants Who Swim Into Ceuta and Melilla From Summary Return

Nearly 60,000 people converged on Ceuta on Friday last week, hoping to reach Europe. Smuggling networks across Morocco, Africa, and Algeria used personal accounts, Facebook pages like "Hagra sueta 26" (38,000 followers on Facebook, 80,000 on Instagram) and "haraga maroc" (12,000 members), and WhatsApp groups to urge crossings, share routes, and post success stories. The campaign, not centralized, snowballed into a mass border crossing on July 28 and following days.

Spanish newspaper La Razon cited an intelligence report noting mobilization messages circulated in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, France, and the United States. One viral image showed Farah, a young Moroccan woman from Larache, who swam over 5km from Fnideq to Ribera Beach in Ceuta. Fabricated and AI-generated content also spread, including a video of a man swimming in El Jadida, western Morocco, falsely presented as a crossing.

Spanish authorities recovered at least 67 bodies after many migrants drowned. Moroccan rights groups condemned the mass flight, holding the government responsible. A far-right network on X used footage of trucks carrying young people toward the Ceuta border.