The Guardia Civil has suspended holidays, leave and licences for officers serving in Ceuta and Melilla, days after Spanish intelligence gave credence to calls for a fresh mass crossing from Morocco on August 15.
The order was signed by the force’s deputy director of operations, Manuel Llamas, and applies until further notice.
The text justified the measure by citing the rise in irregular migratory pressure on the two autonomous cities and the need to keep watch over the external border of the Spanish State.
It said the operational reinforcement sent to both commands was being significantly eroded by summer holidays and personal leave.
The Guardia Civil also invoked a 2007 law obliging officers to report to their nearest post and place themselves at the disposal of the authorities in cases of serious disruption to public safety. Leave already authorised before the order was issued is not affected.
The Defence Ministry has taken a parallel step. The general commanding Ceuta signed an order cancelling new leave for troops stationed in the city, with those already away told to expect a recall.
Both measures follow appeals circulating on WhatsApp, TikTok and Facebook for another attempt to enter Ceuta on August 15, a public holiday in Spain. The National Intelligence Centre considers the calls credible, according to Cadena SER.
More than 72,000 people crossed into Ceuta from Morocco on July 30 and 31, the largest influx recorded at the European Union’s only land border with Africa. Most were returned within days.
The Unified Association of Guardia Civil Officers (AUGC) said it shared the diagnosis but not the remedy. It argued that the order added not a single officer to either city and merely squeezed personnel who were already overstretched.
The association said the Interior Ministry had suspended the rights of two entire commands and, in doing so, acknowledged in writing that a serious public security problem existed.
It asked for a fixed deadline with a review every fortnight, no loss of the suspended days and proper payment for extra duty.
The Spanish Confederation of Police (CEP) has accused Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska of refusing to shield the police deployment in Ceuta. It described the dispatch of six officers from the immigration and borders directorate as risible given the hundreds of case files now awaiting processing.
The union said the events at the African border showed that Spanish immigration law needed rewriting around the principle of border protection.
