Spain said it had reversed an unprecedented surge of migrants into its North African enclave of Ceuta, with most of the approximately 50,000 people who crossed the border by land and sea already having returned voluntarily.
Authorities said at least 57 bodies had been recovered on the Spanish side of the border, while additional casualties were feared on the Moroccan side.
Officials said some migrants drowned while others were crushed trying to climb the breakwater supporting the border fence.
Spain's Interior Ministry said around 50,000 people had entered Ceuta since Thursday morning and estimated that about 48,300 had returned to Morocco by Friday evening.
Local officials said the total number of crossings may have reached 60,000.
Moroccan security forces used batons and tear gas to prevent more migrants from entering the Spanish enclave, while Spanish military vehicles were deployed along sections of the border.
Reuters witnesses saw riot police dispersing crowds with tear gas as water cannon trucks stood by. Burnt-out vehicles and damaged infrastructure remained after clashes near the crossing.
Many migrants who had reached Ceuta began returning voluntarily, saying they had been unable to find food or shelter.
"Honestly, I don't even know why I came, and now I'm going back," one young Moroccan man from Tangier told Reuters.
Another migrant, Ayman, a 20-year-old hairdresser from Larache, said he had swum for five hours to reach Ceuta but was later forced to leave after finding little assistance inside the enclave.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Ceuta on Friday, describing the mass crossing as "a violation of Spain's territorial sovereignty" and pledging to accelerate the repatriation of those who had entered illegally in cooperation with Morocco.
The incident sparked political divisions across Europe.
Italy announced it would temporarily suspend Schengen border-free travel arrangements with Spain, a move Madrid said violated European Union treaties.
France said it would significantly reinforce police deployments along its border with Spain, while increasing aerial surveillance and railway patrols.
The surge also drew criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who described the crossings as "an invasion" and blamed Spain's migration policies. The U.S. State Department similarly criticised Madrid, saying it was considering measures to support European allies responding to illegal migration.
Spain rejected criticism that its migration policies had encouraged the crossings.
Officials said several factors may have contributed to the surge, including a recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling on the treatment of migrants intercepted at sea near Ceuta and Melilla.
Ceuta and Melilla, Spain's two autonomous enclaves on Morocco's Mediterranean coast, form the European Union's only land borders with Africa and have long been flashpoints for irregular migration.
Officials described the scale of this week's crossings as unprecedented.
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European leaders gathered in Dublin on Thursday, 12 November, for the ninth European Political Community (EPC) summit, with security, defence and energy high on the agenda. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held talks focused on peace, trade and regional cooperation.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark warning at this year's COP31 summit, saying the climate crisis iss advancing faster than governments' efforts to contain it.
Iran will not let a single particle of its enriched nuclear material leave the country, and any new U.S. attack would be met with strikes on distant American bases, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei has said.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang is stepping down amid reports linking him to a woman suspected by U.S. authorities of spying for China, throwing the future of the $4 trillion chipmaker into uncertainty.
Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 11 November. Today, we cover Russia-Ukraine peace talks, political tensions in Washington, strikes in Spain, espionage allegations involving Nvidia's CEO, and climate negotiations at COP31 in Türkiye.
President Vladimir Putin agreed on Thursday to let European representatives join the next round of Ukraine peace talks while the United States continues to work towards what could become the largest prisoner exchange of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Azerbaijan and the UK have pledged to strengthen defence, trade and education cooperation after signing a joint declaration elevating relations to a strategic level in Dublin, Ireland on Thursday (12 November).
More than 333,000 people have been forced from their homes in Yemen since the beginning of August as fighting has escalated, including more than 24,000 in the past week alone, the United Nations said on Thursday.
A court in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad has sentenced human rights lawyer Maria Bontsler to 12 years in prison on treason charges, after prosecutors accused her of passing sensitive information to Ukraine.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to double tariffs on Mexico unless it stops more than a thousand migrants who are walking north towards the United States, warning that they will be denied entry.
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