60,000 People Who Entered the Autonomous City Irregularly on Thursday, Only Learning of It As They Began Crossing the Border

The Spanish government's delegate in Ceuta, Miguel Ángel Pérez, said Sunday that authorities received no advance warning of the wave of some 60,000 people who entered the autonomous city irregularly on Thursday, only learning of it as they began crossing the border. "From my area of responsibility, which is not much with regard to those services, I can assure you that is the case, he said. He insisted: "We had no information here, at least in this delegation, until we started to see those people entering through the border in that way.

He also said: "What happens on Thursday morning, everyone starts to have information when it happens. Before it happens, nobody had information. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said Saturday there was "no report to the effect that a situation like the one that occurred on the 30th [of July] could have arisen. Both Pérez and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who spoke Friday, acknowledged a recent rise in irregular arrivals to Ceuta, but Pérez drew a distinction between that trend and Thursday's avalanche.