Spain lines up 200 children for mainland resettlement after Ceuta migrant surge

Officials seek to reduce pressure on migrant reception centres in Spain’s North African enclave

Spain is urging regional authorities to take in hundreds of unaccompanied foreign minors after about 8,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into the small Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta.

The central government wants to distribute 200 children among the provinces to relieve the pressure on migrant reception centres.

The minors are drawn from the influx on Monday and Tuesday, when about 1,500 children reached Ceuta.

Spain’s government said the children could be transferred immediately. In doing so, the minors could be properly cared for, it said.

Moroccan border guards were accused of turning a blind eye to departures, although it has since strengthened its security in the area.

Spain's defence minister Margarita Robles hit out at Morocco and said her country would not accept being pressured with “the use of minors".

“We are not going to accept being blackmailed,” she told Spain's public radio. “Spain's integrity is not negotiable and is not at stake. We are going to use all necessary means to guarantee the territorial integrity and to keep vigilance on our frontiers.

“You don't play with Spain.”

Spain's social policy minister Ione Belarra said some of the unaccompanied migrants in Ceuta were as young as seven.

"We are working to address the issue of children who have come alone," she told the TVE broadcaster. "Many of them did not know the consequences of crossing the border. And many of them want to go back. So we are working to make that possible."

Migrants prevented from crossing the border from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta burn a motorbike in protest in the northern town of Fnideq. AFP

Migrants clash with Moroccan riot police in Fnideq. Spain has expelled thousands who crossed into its enclave of Ceuta after Morocco relaxed controls on the border. AFP

Migrants face-off with Moroccan riot police in the northern town of Fnideq. Many are still trying to cross from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. AFP

A Moroccan riot police officer throws back a rock at migrants during the clashes in Fnideq. AFP

Moroccan riot police retreat as they are pelted with stones during the unrest. AFP

A street vendor hides behind his cigarette stand as Moroccan riot police draw up a formation behind him as they face migrants on the streets of Frideq unable to cross into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. AFP

Royal Moroccan Navy officers pick up a man attempting to swim across the Mediterranean Sea border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. AFP

Migrants attempt to help one of their number in difficulty in the water at the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. AFP

Migrants sit on a sea wall in the northern town of Fnideq, Morocco, as they prepare to attempt to cross the border into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta. AFP

Moroccan youths wave a Spanish flag on the border with Ceuta. AP Photo

Migrants try to scramble up a wall separating the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco. A record 8,000 poured over the border this week, but many were swiftly returned. AFP

A Moroccan migrant wearing a Moroccan football team T-shirt sits after trying to cross the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. AFP

All the regional authorities are in support of the distribution idea. Andalusia, the southernmost community in mainland Spain, at first resisted the idea having often borne the brunt of previous migrant arrivals.

It has since announced it will take in 13 unaccompanied minors from Ceuta.

Overnight, there were reports of clashes between Moroccan police and young Moroccans in the town of Fnideq, which is close to the border with Ceuta.

The influx into Ceuta has since slowed, with at least 5,600 migrants being sent back to Morocco.

A Spanish civil guard waits for migrants to arrive at the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, near the border of Morocco and Spain. AP Photo

Surrounded by Spanish security forces, migrants sit on the beach after arriving at Ceuta. AP Photo

Spanish soldiers remove the water from a boat used by Moroccan migrants at El Tarajal beach, near the fence between the Spanish-Moroccan border. Reuters

Migrants are led by Moroccan soldiers back to Morocco from El Tarajal beach, at the fence between the Spanish-Moroccan border. Reuters

A soldier gestures to migrants as they arrive at Ceuta. AP Photo

A young man jumps from a small boat packed with migrants that left Morocco to try to reach Ceuta. EPA

A group of people try to cross the border fence separating Morocco and Ceuta. EPA

Migrants avoid the Moroccan police as they try to reach the border between Morocco and Ceuta. AFP

Tensions surged between Spain and Morocco, with the former's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez blasting Rabat for its disrespect towards his country and the EU over the matter.

Morocco's minister of state for human rights, El Mustapha Ramid, suggested the lack of border controls was justified because Spain is treating a Western Sahara rebel leader wanted by Rabat.

"What did Spain expect from Morocco, which sees its neighbour hosting the head of a group that took up arms against the kingdom?" he said, referring to Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali, who fled to Spain.