How a social media campaign triggered huge migrant surge on Ceuta
Following a Spanish court ruling protecting migrants swimming to Ceuta the previous week, accounts called on thousands to travel there. A few days after Spainâs
Following a Spanish court ruling protecting migrants swimming to Ceuta the previous week, accounts called on thousands to travel there. A few days after Spainâs Supreme Court ruled that migrants who swim into the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the coast of northern Africa cannot be summarily returned to Morocco, nearly 60,000 people converged on Ceuta on Friday last week, hoping to make their way to Europe. On July 29, the Spanish court ruled that, as people swimming to Ceuta do not cross the physical border fence, they must be processed according to more stringent legal procedures before they can be deported back to Morocco. Within days, the ruling had been recast online as an open invitation. New accounts and pages claimed Spain had âopened the wayâ for anyone arriving by sea and that returns were no longer possible. Smuggling networks across Morocco, Africa and Algeria joined the campaign through three main channels. Personal accounts set up in early June posted daily calls to people to cross into Ceuta by sea, directing followers to WhatsApp groups arranging collective travel and reporting on conditions for young people in Ceuta. A page called âHagra sueta 26â, with about 38,000 followers on Facebook and 80,000 on Instagram, showcased photographs and videos of successful swimmers. Local Facebook groups, notably âharaga marocâ, which has 12,000 members and the phrase âmigration to Spainâ in its description, urged people to gather and head for Ceuta, and shared practical information about routes there.
Social media content seen by Al Jazeera revealed a promise of âthe dreamâ: Work or marriage in Spain or elsewhere in Europe. A number of accounts called on followers to travel in groups, some named assembly and departure points inside Morocco, and others posted success stories while urging anyone wanting a safe crossing to Ceuta to make contact directly. For the most part, the channels do not appear to have specific, organised links to each other. Combined, however, they snowballed into a movement of people. A flurry of activity followed. Vendors swimming and diving gear as well as inflatable boats, while users posted guidance on the best launch points along the Moroccan coast, citing their reading of the ruling. Then, groups of young people began appearing at Ceutaâs gates. Platforms amplified news of the gatherings, numbers grew, and the effort peaked in a mass border crossing on July 28 and in the days that followed. How a social media campaign snowballed Citing an intelligence report, Spanish newspaper La Razon reported that social media accounts and groups in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, France and the United States had circulated âmobilisation messagesâ, information about logistics and routes to Ceuta, and advice on getting past the maritime barrier at Tarajal. The campaign was not centralised, the report said, but grew with different groups and people taking on roles split between producing, amplifying, resharing and coordinating content.
The BriefWire