The Spanish Embassy in Rabat has warned Madrid about a surge in social media messages calling for a mass attempt to enter Ceuta on September 23, the day Morocco holds parliamentary elections, Spanish media reported Saturday.
The embassy’s Interior Affairs Office issued the warning Thursday after detecting posts presenting election day as an “exceptional opportunity” to cross the border while Moroccan security forces are occupied with the vote, La Sexta reported, citing El Confidencial.
The warning does not say Spanish authorities have detected an actual weakening of border security linked to the elections. According to the same report, the embassy has so far found no indication that the vote will affect Morocco’s protection of the border, even as officials expect the volume of online calls to increase as September 23 approaches. Some posts also mention Melilla.
The election-day narrative has circulated for weeks. Spanish fact-checking platform Maldita.es reported in August that it was monitoring around 30 WhatsApp groups discussing crossings into Ceuta.
After plans for an August 15 attempt lost momentum amid heavier security, users began proposing September 23 instead, explicitly arguing that Moroccan authorities would be preoccupied with the elections.
RTVE said it reached a similar finding after analysing more than 12,000 messages, audio clips and videos posted between August 4 and 13.
The warning comes less than two months after the unprecedented crossings into Ceuta on July 30 and 31.
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