Spain said the extraordinary movement of migrants into Ceuta had begun to reverse after around 50,000 people crossed from Morocco by land and sea from Thursday morning. The Interior Ministry estimated that about 25,000 had already returned voluntarily.
Moroccan security forces used batons and tear gas against crowds near the border gates while Spanish military vehicles deployed along the enclave's side of the frontier. Water-cannon trucks were positioned in the area, and a burned bus and seven damaged cars remained after clashes.
The human toll was still disputed. Spanish authorities initially recovered at least 19 bodies from the water, while Ceuta government head Juan Jesús Vivas said as many as 60,000 people may have entered and put the number of deaths at 34.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez travelled to Ceuta and called the crossing a violation of Spanish territorial sovereignty. He said authorities were accelerating the return of people who entered without authorization and were receiving full cooperation from Morocco.
Ceuta and Melilla are the European Union's only land borders with Africa and periodically face attempted mass crossings, but the scale of this movement was unprecedented. A Spanish Supreme Court ruling earlier in July limiting summary returns for migrants intercepted at sea was identified by the government as one possible contributing factor.
Several hundred people were seen walking back through border posts and gaps in the fence after finding little food or shelter in Ceuta. Women and children were among those gathered on the Moroccan side, alongside migrants from Morocco and countries farther south in Africa.
The episode quickly widened into a dispute among European governments. France ordered stronger checks on its border with Spain, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni threatened extraordinary action, including suspension of Schengen arrangements with Spain, if the movement was not contained.
Spain summoned the Italian ambassador after Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Madrid's migration amnesty had encouraged trafficking. The confrontation exposes the gap between Spain's argument that regulated migration supports its economy and governments pressing for harder internal and external European border controls.
