King Muhammad of Morocco weaponises migration

THEY CAME in their hundreds, swimming around the border fence that protects the Spanish city of Ceuta, or walking across the beach at low tide under the permissive eyes of Moroccan border guards, who would normally stop them. In 36 hours this week, 8,000 would-be migrants descended on Ceuta, an enclave of 85,000 people (see map). For the Spanish authorities, coping with this influx was an immediate humanitarian headache. And Morocco’s weaponisation of migration also puts the government of Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister, in a longer-term bind.Clearly rattled and caught by surprise, Spain deployed 3,000 troops with armoured cars from the garrison in Ceuta and sent 200 police reinforcements. Mr Sánchez himself flew to the city, vowing to defend its “territorial integrity”. Spanish officials recall the “Green March” of 1975, when Hassan II, then Morocco’s king, mobilised 350,000 civilians to occupy Western Sahara, to the south, as Spain gave up its colony.