Ceuta is bracing for a possible new mass surge of migrants just weeks after 80,000 people stormed the enclave from Morocco.

Social media is rife with calls for migrants to enter the city again on Wednesday, when elections are being held in Morocco, which is causing high tensions in the Spanish city. 

Thousands of Ceuti people marched to the border with Morocco on Sunday protesting against the reported planned crossing and doctors and nurses in the area are planning to strike.

And police were deployed last night to quell a riot at the Loma Colmenar detention centre.

Several police units were called in, with footage shared last night by local media showing a riot van in place with lines of officers in head-to-toe riot gear. 

In front of them stood dozens of people who appeared to be migrants. The riot van sounded its alarm in an apparent warning to those gathered. 

Police were also called to a makeshift migrant shelter in Loma Colmenar – and many of the inhabitants were reportedly minors. Officers raided the house following neighbours’ complaints. 

Footage shared last night by local media showed a riot van backing up behind a line of cops dressed head to toe in riot gear

Police were also called to a makeshift shelter in Loma Colmenar, where they found a large number of migrants – many of whom were minors

Migrants at a settlement in Trampolin beach, following the mass crossing of migrants from Morocco, in Ceuta, Spain, September 20 2026

Local media reported as many as 20 people were living in the property. 

Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares said Madrid has activated channels to counter calls within Morocco calling for a new crossing. 

But despite this, the city is bracing for another crossing. Beginning on July 30, around 80,000 people entered the Spanish enclave illegally. 

They swam from the Moroccan side around the Tarajal breakwater that jutted out into the sea and made their way to Ceuta. 

Though many left the city, as many as 15,000 people still illegally remain in Ceuta. 

Last week saw thousands of migrants running through the streets of the enclave as authorities tried to move them to a new tent camp. 

Spanish police began relocating the migrants, who have been living for weeks on the beach in Ceuta, to its port area.

In the move officers struggled to contain the crowds jostling to secure a spot at the new tented site. Authorities say there are enough tents for 1,700 people.

Video footage shows people charging through the streets towards the new camp, cheering and shouting.

According to local reports, the National Police and Riot Control Unit were forced to intervene, reportedly using tear gas to stop the chaos.

Following the incident, authorities erected a 500m (1,640ft) inflatable barrier to further deter migrants from entering. 

But this has since broken apart due to strong winds. 

Sunday’s protest saw Ceutis chanting ‘expel the invaders’, amid a growing sense among locals that the city is already at its limits. 

Video footage shows people charging through the streets towards the new camp

Police struggled to contain the surging crowds as they tried to move migrants from Ceuta’s beaches to a new tented site in the Spanish enclave

A picture taken on September 20, 2026 shows the damaged anti-migration barrier which was recently installed along the seawall border separating Morocco from Spain’s north African territory of Ceuta at the Tarajal beach in the Spanish enclave

The health service is also feeling the strain. CEMSATSE, the union with the largest representation among health workers in Ceuta, has called for a strike on Thursday – the day after the potential mass crossing. 

The union said the health system has ‘surpassed its original capacity’ and accused Madrid of failing to recognise an emergency. 

National health minister Mónica García has denied that there is a crisis in Ceuta’s health system and said the city’s only hospital was operating at 53 per cent capacity.

She previously accused those who believe that an influx of migrants could bring disease to Ceuta of being xenophobic.

Ms García insisted: ‘Migrants do not bring diseases, they contract them here because of poor conditions.’