A shocking video shows how a popular beach has been turned into a huge open-air camp following a recent border rush.
The footage, filmed from a moving car, shows Playa del Trampolín in Ceuta, Spain, occupied by countless huts and tents.
The entire 0.57-mile stretch appears to be covered with makeshift shelters, with scores of people milling around and litter strewn across the shore.
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The clip was recorded by JUPOL spokesperson Laura García, a representative of the Spanish National Police trade union, on Wednesday (12 August).
Almost two weeks earlier, on 30 July, tens of thousands of people in northern Morocco reportedly headed towards Ceuta and attempted to cross its land and maritime borders.
Spanish authorities estimate that between 50,000 and 72,000 people entered, many swimming around the Tarajal border area, as reported by Need To Know.
The surge appears to have been fuelled largely by false information spreading on social media, including claims that the border was open or that Spain could no longer immediately return people who crossed by sea.
Messages circulated on TikTok, Instagram and WhatsApp, prompting large numbers to travel to the border.
The rush was extremely dangerous, with dozens of people dying, including by drowning and in crushes as huge crowds attempted to negotiate the breakwater and reach Ceuta.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on 1 August that “the situation has been almost entirely reversed”.
Alongside social-media misinformation, economic hardship and high youth unemployment across parts of Africa have been key drivers of irregular migration to Ceuta, a Spanish territory and gateway to the EU, where migrants hope to find better jobs and living conditions.
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