Embattled Spanish PM insists there were no prior warnings before Ceuta crisis

ByPaul Kirby, Europe digital editor and Guy Hedgecoe, Madrid correspondent.

Key points

• Opposition People's Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo accused the administration of lying and a cover-up, and stated the prime minister should resign.
• As he explained the "complexity" of what had happened on 30 and 31 July, he addressed the "difficult times" faced by the residents of Ceuta.
• Although senior authorities insist it does not point the finger at Rabat, a Spanish police report has highlighted the "total permissiveness" of Moroccan security forces.
• Spain's handling of the migrant influx angered some of its European partners, and Italy responded by imposing border restrictions on arrivals from Spain.
• The sizeable turnout for the demonstrations in Madrid and other cities on Wednesday underlined the pressure Sánchez is under domestically too.

ByPaul Kirby, Europe digital editor and Guy Hedgecoe, Madrid correspondent. 3 September 2026, 09: 14 BST. Updated 1 hour ago.

As pressure mounts over his handling of the crisis, spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has remarked no-one foresaw the influx of 72, 000 migrants in the exclave of Ceuta.

"It's absurd to think that the government knew and did nothing, " Sánchez informed Spain's parliament on Thursday, hours after tens of thousands of residents joined protests nationwide backed by opposition parties.

Sánchez additionally maintained there was no evidence Morocco was behind the mass crossing and there had been "close co-ordination" between the two countries.

Although most of the migrants have been sent back to Morocco, some 5, 000 remain on the streets and beaches of Ceuta, on the North African coast, including as plenty of as 1, 400 children.

After a Spanish court ruling that plenty of migrants misunderstood to mean they would not be pushed back if they swam throughout, there have been a number of reports that Spanish office-holders had been cautioned of a rise in sea arrivals over the border at Ceuta.

For context, the sizeable turnout for the demonstrations in Madrid and other cities on Wednesday underlined the pressure Sánchez is under domestically too.

Meanwhile, the protests were ostensibly held to express backing for the residents of Ceuta, but as frequent anti-government chants have shown, they additionally reflected public anger at the ongoing crisis.

As Thursday's fierce debate in Congress indicated, the situation in Ceuta has developed from a humanitarian and logistical crisis into a major political challenge for the Socialist leader.

One of the problems Sánchez is having to explain is his government's bilateral relationship with Morocco.

He has tried to walk a delicate line between defending his refusal to blame Morocco while reprimanding it for the sovereignty claims it has been making in recent weeks on both Ceuta and its fellow Spanish exclave of Melilla.

Although he did complain of "unacceptable" statements by two Moroccan ministers concerning Ceuta and its sister city Melilla, sánchez has been careful until now not to criticise Rabat and he remarked he would stick to "proven, verified facts".

Meanwhile, the two cities have the EU's only land borders in North Africa and Sánchez informed parliament: "Ceuta is not the border of Spain, it is Spain on the border." Protests in Spain against government's handling of Ceuta migrant crisis. Sexual assaults happening almost every day in Ceuta, prosecutors say. Violence breaks out in Ceuta as migrant crisis continues.

Politicians to both his left and right point to what they say is Morocco's track record of using the border with Spain as leverage when it has a grievance.

Although Sánchez maintained there was no solid evidence of administration involvement, plenty of have interpreted the police report pointing to the role of Moroccan security forces in the July crossing as reinforcing this theory.

As well as reports before the influx, Feijóo informed MPs that it had "originated in Morocco, was consented to by Morocco and there are indications that Morocco co-ordinated it and the Government knew because it had been warned about it", responding to the police report. Morocco has denied orchestrating or being involved in the mass crossing.

Sánchez praised the response of Ceuta police who had chosen to "defend human life" when the influx took place, rather than defend the border. He additionally highlighted close co-operation with Moroccan authorities over the return of more than 90% of the migrants in the after 72 hours.

He spoke of an "episode in which numerous actors and interests converge", doubling down on his assertion that hoaxes and rumours spread by social media had sparked the crisis.

He has already blamed trafficking gangs and angered Russia and Israel for highlighting social media linked to both countries along with "an international far-right movement". He informed MPs that there was no evidence of state actors being involved but doubled down on his allegations of accounts linked to the two countries.

Ceuta was "a humanitarian crisis and also an administrative challenge within the city itself", he continued.

In short, embattled Spanish PM insists there were no prior warnings before Ceuta crisis is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.