Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Why did 60,000 migrants cross into a tiny Spanish enclave in North Africa

Transcript

Why did 60,000 migrants cross into a tiny Spanish enclave in North Africa · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: At least fifty seven people had died attempting to cross
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the border from Morocco to a small Spanish territory in
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: North Africa. The Spanish government says many of the sixty
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: thousand people who crossed into Sueta have voluntarily returned to Morocco.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Some migrants swam several kilometers through the sea and faced
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: down authorities who tried to turn them back with water cannons,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: tear gas and warning shots. The mass crossing is causing
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: division and shock in Europe. The Spanish Prime Minister condemned
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the border breach, blaming human smugglers for the crisis.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: And for more.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: We're joined by Renata Brito in Barcelona. She covers global
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: migration for the Associated Press. Ranata, thank you so much
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: for joining us.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: You're welcome, thank you for having me.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: So let me ask you, what do you know about
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the situation on the ground in Seota today.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Well, this was the biggest border crisis the Spanish territory
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: has seen, and it's seen a few before. We know
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: that between fifty and sixty thousand migrants crossed into this
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: very small Spanish territory in North Africa that has only
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: a population of eighty four thousand, so that's approximately seventy
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: percent of its population. But we also know that a
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: lot of people who entered have already returned voluntarily to
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Morocco after seeing that, you know, the chaos that had
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: become Ceota, there was really nowhere for them to go.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: The migrant reception centers have been overwhelmed for a few days,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: if not weeks. People were left stranded in the streets,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: roaming in the streets, and so many returned to Morocco. However,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: at least fifty seven people died in this crossing attempt
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: in the last day. People drowned, but people were also stampeded, squished,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: you know, collapsed in the crowds that were trying to
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: cross from Morocco.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: What have you been learning or what is being said
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: about why so many all at once tried to make
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: this crossing all altogether.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: It's still not one hundred percent clear the reason behind it,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: but the Spanish government has blamed it on you know,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: smuggling groups, criminal gangs, who misinterpreted misconstrued Supreme Court ruling
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: earlier this month in Spain Supreme Court that said that
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: migrants who crossed by sea who swim cannot be immediately
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: pushed back, cannot be immediately deported. They have to go
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: through a certain due process, unlike those who crossed the
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: land border by climbing the fence, for example. And so
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: the Spanish government has really pinned that on the reason
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: behind so many people trying to cross themto Celta at once.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: There was also a lot of misinformation spread on social
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: media in Morocco saying that the border was open and
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: using the Supreme Court ruling, as you know, a reason
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: to go to Celta swimming. But of course we've already
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: seen most of those people go back to Morocco. Spain
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: said it had struck a deal with Morocco to return
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: those who entered as soon as possible, and so unfortunately
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: a lot of people died in this attempt.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: So the understanding is that, as you say, most, probably
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: not all have returned at this point. Can you explain
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: to us what would the aim be, given the very
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: small population and you know what's actually available in Sooto,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: what would the end goal have been for those who
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: were trying to get across.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Well, the goal is always to reach the European Union,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: you know, to look for better job opportunities, but also
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: for peeping people fleeing violence. There are migrants from other
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: countries in Morocco who use Morocco as a transit country,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: and Celta too, is a stepping stone to europe power.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: It's not that easy to go from Celta to mainland Spain.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Most of most migrants are eventually deported sent back. Some
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: may apply for asylum, and unaccompanied miners may also stay
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: a bit longer or manage to get documents and be
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: maybe transferred to mainland Spain. But it's not that easy.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: So many migrants go to Celta or Melia thinking, you know,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: it's a European Union territory, But there are and there
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: have always been border checks for people leaving Celta to
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: mainland Spain and for the rest of Europe. So it's
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: not that easy. And again the Spanish government has blamed people,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: smugglers and social media misinformation for this mass of people
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: who tried to enter Spain through Soa.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: And as you say, I mean fifty seven people dying.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: It's not that easy to get to Yota from by
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: by sea, which is what they were trying to do.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: In this case, it's you know, I was reading a
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: two hour swim potentially for some and not all survived it.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: You know, what's the government of Spain doing moving forward
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: to prevent this from happening.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, it could be two hours, it could be
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: more hours. We had many people, men, women, families with
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: children tell journalists that they were hours in the sea
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: trying to reach Soota. The Spanish government has said that
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: it has since installed some floating barriers as this seems
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: to be the main reasoning behind the Supreme Court ruling,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: which basically said that people who are crossing by sea
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: don't actually cross over any physical barriers, and so they
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: have to go through a different process in order to
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: be returned. So the Spanish government has said, okay, we're
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: going to put some physical barriers on the ocean, in
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: the sea, and they're using that as one of the solutions.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: They've also sent the military. They've sent more ships, more
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: police officers to patrol both the land and sea at
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Celta border with Morocco.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: As I said off the top, you're in Barcelona, what
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: are you hearing from people there?
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: The first things we heard was that it was absolute
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: chaos and things had completely spun out of control. I
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: had been in Celta in twenty twenty one in the
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: previous border crisis, where roughly ten thousand people crossed in
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: two days, but we were hearing that this was much
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: much worse. It had been building up in the past week,
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: with hundreds of people swimming to Celta, collapsing receptions, overwhelming
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: local authorities and NGO workers. But Thursday it really exploded,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: with tens of thousands crossing at once, and it continued
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: into Friday. On Friday afternoon, we started seeing people return,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: and with the increased police presence, we also saw on
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: the Moroccan side of the border, Moroccan forces using tear
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: gas water cannons to disperse the crowds that were still
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: trying to come to Celta. And we're gathering on the hilltop.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: So there's definitely a lot of increased security, and the
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Spanish Prime Minister visited today and we'll see how things
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: evolve tomorrow. But as I said at the beginning, the
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: majority of the migrants who had crossed into Celta had
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: already returned by this evening.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Associated Press reporter. We're not a brito in Barcelona, We're
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: not a thank you