Why did almost 60,000 people cross into Spanish territory?

“The situation is absolute chaos,” said Rachid Sbihi, the head of the association that represents border protection in Ceuta. Subscribe ► youtube.com
The small autonomous Spanish city sits on the north African coast and has seen an influx of more than 49,000 people in the last 24 hours. “It’s not possible to give precise numbers, but there are thousands of migrants crossing,” Sbihi said, adding that the border had “totally collapsed”. For Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, this migration crisis is a violation of Spain’s territorial sovereignty. He says it is driven by human traffickers wilfully misleading migrants about the legal situation after a recent ruling by the Spanish supreme court. Earlier this month, the court ruled that immediate returns of migrants crossing the border illegally did not apply to those arriving by sea – but with some important caveats that say they cannot “overcome the established border containment elements”. Spanish authorities have said 25,000 people have already recrossed the border voluntarily. #cueta #spain #pedrosanchez #africa