The Moroccan authorities sealed the Tarajal border crossing on Wednesday, after 8,000 migrants were able to cross to Ceuta, EFE reported. As for the people who had gathered near the Tarajal border crossing, they «are now taking the opposite path, towards the south, after having convinced themselves that the accesses are closed», it added on Wednesday. At the same time, the number migrants returned to Morocco now stands at 4,800, according to data provided by the government delegation. The number of returnees has increased in recent hours after the agreement reached between the two countries. Some 8,000 migrants have managed to gain access to Ceuta since Monday, including 1,500 minors. Alongside those who are forced to return, «dozens of young people» who entered the Spanish enclave in recent days are said to have headed for the border. «They want to return voluntarily to their country because they have nowhere to sleep or to eat in Ceuta», a soldier who assists them at the border told the same source. The government delegation confirmed that the night from Tuesday to Wednesday was «relatively calm» and assured that there had been no new arrivals. The Civil Guard patrolling the region, however, intercepted three ships carrying migrants from Morocco. In Melilla, the Spanish and Moroccan security forces aborted Tuesday evening an attempt of forty Sub-Saharans. EFE recalls that Spain and Morocco are experiencing an unprecedented diplomatic crisis, after the government of Madrid agreed to welcome the leader of the Polisario Front for humanitarian reasons, who has since been hospitalized in a hospital in the region of La Rioja.
