Spanish Police Brace for Surge as Morocco-Europe Travel Resumes

The Spanish Ministry of the Interior has given the green light to prepare for Operation Marhaba, which will take place from June 15 to September 15, after two consecutive years of cancellation due to the health crisis. This, after the resumption on Tuesday, April 12, of maritime links between Spain and Morocco, and access to ferries for passengers with vehicles since last Monday, reports La Razòn.

The JUPOL police union had already warned about the lack of personnel, during this particular period of the end of Ramadan and the Easter holidays. "The lack of personnel suffered by the Algeciras police station is critical at the maritime border, which suggests a chaotic situation as soon as passenger traffic with Morocco resumes. More than 300 police officers have requested to leave the Campo de Gibraltar this summer," the union had warned.

On the day maritime links resumed, this lack of personnel caused a long line of vehicles in Algeciras, with the police being understaffed to carry out the control operations. The union recalls that the maritime border of Algeciras is "the main one between Africa and Europe" and from this point of view, it needs highly qualified personnel to ensure control of documents in order to stop holders of "false documents who try to enter Europe irregularly or leave the continent to escape justice".

The Spanish government has not responded to the union’s request to strengthen security personnel at the border. On Wednesday, the JUCIL Civil Guard union also expressed its fears in the face of the chaos that could occur in the event of the reopening of the land borders in Ceuta and Melilla, recalling the migration crisis in May in Ceuta or the massive assaults in Melilla last March, during which around fifty agents were injured by migrants who showed rare violence.