Footage shows crowds of people, mainly Moroccans, walking around the breakwaters at Tarajal beach in Ceuta and running on the beach and roads17:06, 30 Jul 2026Updated 17:40, 30 Jul 2026Crowd breaks through border from Spanish territory of Ceuta from MoroccoAuthorities in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta have asked the government in Madrid to send in the army and declare a national emergency after thousands of people crossed into the tiny territory.‌Videos shot at Tarajal beach showed crowds of people, mainly Moroccans, walking around the breakwaters and running on the beach and roads. "Viva Espana!" some shouted.‌The escalation at the border between Spain and Morocco comes after a surge in migrants attempting to reach the small exclave, mainly by swimming.‌"The situation is absolute chaos," said Rachid Sbihi, head of the association that represents Spain's Civil Guard officers in Ceuta, who police the border. "It's not possible to give precise numbers, but there are thousands of migrants crossing," he said, adding that the border had "totally collapsed."Achraf Maimouni, a member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights in northern Morocco, described the situation as `'exceptional.""The Tarajal border was opened under unusual circumstances this morning and people crossed," he said.‌Between 2,000 and 3,000 people have crossed into Ceuta, Spain’s national broadcaster, TVE, reported.The scenes of people crossing the frontier come after the border crisis of May 2021 when more than 8,000 migrants entered Ceuta in just two days. Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister, said his government would provide “an immediate response” to the current situation.The escalation at the frontier between Spain and Morocco comes after a surge in migrants attempting to reach the small exclave, mainly by swimming, on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear what prompted so many migrants to cross to Ceuta. At least three people died attempting to reach Ceuta by sea, Sibhi and activists in both Morocco and Ceuta reported.‌Juan Jesus Vivas, head of the Ceuta regional government, called for the national government in Madrid to declare a national emergency on grounds of national security, asking for more police and for the army to be deployed on the border.Vivas said the additional police and soldiers would be necessary "to guarantee the inviolability of the frontier and citizen safety."‌He had warned on Wednesday that migrant reception centers were overwhelmed with hundreds of people sleeping on the streets.Spain’s central government said Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Spain’s interior minister, would travel to Ceuta on Friday. However ministers have stopped short of declaring a national emergency.Article continues belowPedro Sánchez said in a post on X: “We’re mobilising all necessary resources, working with Moroccan and international authorities, and preparing the necessary measures to restore normalcy as soon as possible,” he said in a post on X. “I just conveyed this to President Vivas. This is the moment to build solutions, with responsibility and cooperation.”