The Ceuta border was closed after an attempt to jump over the fence in a group of about 200 sub-Saharan migrants

CEUTA, 14 Apr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The National Police and the Civil Guard have closed the Ceuta border to vehicle traffic early this Friday morning after detecting the approach to the fence that separates the autonomous city of Morocco from a group made up of "around 200 migrants from sub-Saharan origin" that have been contained by the Security Forces of the Alawite Kingdom.

As reported to Europa Press by police sources, the attempted jump was registered "through the middle area" of the 8.2-kilometer-long double fence that runs from the Tarajal border to the waters of the Strait of Gibraltar, in Benzú, which in recent years has been the subject of different reinforcement works.

Both the local Command of the Benemérita and the Higher Police Headquarters have mobilized their riot units of the GRS and the UIP and the rest of the available troops, as well as maritime and air means, in case their intervention were necessary to contain the attempted entry irregular.

Within the framework of the usual protocol for this type of situation, which had not been activated since before the migration crisis of May 2021, the entry and exit from Ceuta to Morocco in vehicles has been closed and only access is allowed on foot to the Autonomous City. Likewise, the Red Cross immigration Emergency Response Team (ERIE) has been placed on pre-alert in case its intervention is necessary.

During the first three months of this year, 199 people have arrived irregularly in Ceuta by land (3.9% less than between January and the end of March 2022) and another 16 have achieved it by sea (half that of the last year in the same period), according to the latest data published periodically by the Ministry of the Interior.