"We will meet there on August 15": The call to Moroccan youth that is rattling Ceuta

Less than two weeks after the unusual wave of migration to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, local authorities in Spain are preparing for the possibility of another mass entry attempt from Morocco. In recent days, calls have spread on social networks and messaging apps for Moroccan youth to gather in the border area ahead of August 15, and in Ceuta, officials clarify that they are taking the threat seriously.

According to "El País", thousands of Moroccan users discussed in Facebook and WhatsApp groups whether another wave would occur, with the message "We will meet there on August 15" appearing as part of the discourse on the networks. A further check published by the newspaper on Saturday showed that the activity has not disappeared, but has become less visible, partly through closed groups and communication tools that are harder to track.

Ceuta government spokesperson Alejandro Ramírez confirmed that the authorities are concerned about the new calls and that the messages have been passed on to the competent security agencies. According to him, after the events of late July, "it is clear that the rumors on the networks are worrying," although he expressed hope that the scenario would not materialize. The posts also include invitations to join groups aimed at coordinating a collective crossing attempt on August 15.

The concern comes after tens of thousands of people crossed the border from Morocco to Ceuta on July 30, in an event that became the most severe migration crisis the enclave has experienced in recent years. Most of the migrants have since returned to Morocco, but there is a sharp dispute between the central government in Madrid and the leadership of Ceuta regarding the number of those who remain in the city.

The President of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, estimated over the weekend that between 8,000 and 11,000 people are still staying in the enclave, and demanded the deployment of at least a thousand police officers and Civil Guard personnel, as well as a significant strengthening of the border.

In Morocco, too, they are monitoring the new calls. The site Le360 reported that the same digital channels used to spread the calls in late July have begun to disseminate messages ahead of August 13-15. The site, which is identified with the official line in Rabat, claimed, citing journalist Stefano Piazza, that behind the campaign is a network operating using Algerian phone numbers—a claim that has not been independently verified.

At the same time, the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior claimed that the previous events were a coordinated action fueled by disinformation and human smuggling networks. The National Human Rights Council in Morocco also noted that social networks played a central role in spreading misleading information and driving crowds toward the border.

As of now, there is no indication that another wave on a scale similar to that of late July will actually occur, but the very renewal of the calls on the networks and the trauma from the previous event are causing authorities on both sides of the border to treat August 15 as another test point.