SPAIN’S intelligence agencies have been put on high alert after a coordinated Moroccan social media campaign called for a mass march to ‘liberate’ Ceuta.
National security forces are monitoring online networks urging crowds to storm the borders of the North African enclave on September 20.
Online messages and posters in the Moroccan Arabic dialect began circulating in early September, urging a ‘march of anger’ against Spanish territories.
The planned mobilisation comes just days before Morocco holds its legislative elections on September 23, where Moroccan citizens will vote to elect 395 members to the Chamber of Representatives.
Campaign organisers are explicitly urging followers to exploit the election day, arguing that Moroccan police will be distracted by polling station duties and leave the border exposed.
The digital push is being amplified by nationalist figures including Mustapha Elasri, a Moroccan journalist who has shared posters calling for the recovery of ‘occupied’ territories.
The demands include taking Ceuta, Melilla, and several Spanish sovereign islands scattered along the North African coast.
It follows a mass incursion in late July that saw thousands of people successfully cross into Ceuta.
A subsequent police report by Spain’s National Centre for Immigration and Borders (CENIF) concluded that the July crisis was not spontaneous.
Instead, it was classified as a planned ‘grey zone’ operation — a geopolitical tactic where irregular migration is weaponised by a state — that was actively guided by Moroccan security forces.
READ MORE: Political round-up: PM Pedro Sanchez battles growing Ceuta backlash as opposition turns up the heat
Now, Spain’s National Intelligence Centre (CNI) and military intelligence (CIFAS) are tracking the latest digital campaign to see if it will translate into another physical border crisis.
Intelligence sources told national daily El Español they are ‘on top of the issue’ and working to control the threat.
The lack of an official organiser means the September 20 event could easily pivot from a peaceful protest in the Moroccan capital of Rabat to an aggressive push on the Ceuta fence.
A previous follow-up march planned for August 15 turned into a damp squib, leaving authorities braced for the September dates.
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