Sanchez: There is no evidence Morocco planned the migrant influx toward Ceuta

Spain has found no evidence to conclude that July’s deadly border assault from Morocco on its Ceuta enclave was orchestrated or carried out by the Moroccan authorities, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told lawmakers on Thursday.

Sanchez’s comments in the lower house of parliament followed a police report released this week, which said the mass entry into Ceuta was not a spontaneous migration event, but a planned, phased operation designed to overwhelm border controls.

“I can assure you that no institution, neither the diplomatic service, nor the European Commission, nor any international body, has offered the Spanish government any hard evidence that Morocco planned or carried out the incident. None,” Sanchez said.

However, he said Morocco’s gendarmerie police allowed the border crossing during a key 10-hour period on July 30, when migrant arrivals peaked. Spanish authorities had still not determined whether this was due to inaction or an inability to contain the flow, Sanchez added.

The police report claimed Moroccan security forces were initially deployed in smaller numbers than usual near the Tarajal breakwater that separates the enclave from the North African country and made no serious effort to disperse the crowds.

Several uniformed Moroccan officers gave directions toward the crossing point, while other unidentified persons appeared to direct or monitor the flow of people, the report said, but it did not identify individual officers nor offer independently verified evidence of orders from the Moroccan authorities.