A Spanish MEP has been left outraged as he branded the surge of 60,000 illegal migrants across the border a “true invasion”.
Speaking to GB News, Vox MEP Hermann Tertsch hit out at the “weakness” of the Spanish government, which has been “decisive” in the decision of the people to collapse the border.
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Tens of thousands of migrants swarmed Ceuta on Thursday, a Spanish enclave in north Africa, triggering Madrid to deploy the military.
However, changes to EU regulations which came into force at the start of this month mean it could take until almost September before Brussels takes action.
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Reacting to the incident, Mr Tertsch told GB News there has been “attempts before”, but this is a “true invasion”.
He said: “It’s an invasion. It’s an invasion. We had some other attempts before, but this is a true invasion.
“And we will see how it develops, because it’s not at all clear what the intentions of the Moroccan authorities are, which have permitted this, obviously, and which are promoting it in several ways, so we will see what the intentions really are.”
The MEP criticised the Spanish government for being “enormously weak” on the issue of protecting its borders.
He fumed: “They know that the Spanish government is enormously weak, they know that the borders of Spain have been open.
“The government itself has no credibility in Spain, so the weakness of the Spanish government is in this moment, it has been decisive for this launching, this invasion – on the 27th anniversary of the crowning of King Mohammed VI.”
Mr Tertsch argued the Spanish government has been “weakening all defences” and “promoting uncontrolled migration” to the Moroccans.
He explained: “The Spanish government has been weakening all defences of Spain, their physical defences. The whole beaches are free, the airport in Barajas is really a big hole where everybody comes in, they have been really promoting this uncontrolled immigration.
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“And this has put a sign for Morocco also to step in. They have this aspiration of getting these two cities who have been Spanish long before Morocco existed. They did the same in one moment of deep weakness of Spain when Franco was dying.
“They did the same in the Western Sahara and with the Green March, they took over the Western Sahara, and since then they have adequately occupied the Western Sahara and against the UN resolutions and so on.”
Host Tom Harwood challenged Mr Tertsch on the recent Spanish legislation which ruled that “any arrival by the sea cannot be deported”, and whether that has triggered the mass migration of people into Spain.
He responded: “This deplorable sentence by the Supreme Court has many things to do with it, with our deplorable laws, about strangers and about foreign presence in Spain.
“And also because of this general weakness, of course, it has played a role to say, well, it’s a moment to come by the sea, but as you see, they are coming in by every means.”
The MEP added: “They are trying to assault the physical border, so we are not speaking about using only this kind of a possibility that was opened by the Supreme Court, it’s already an invasion in every sense.
“And then they are going into the houses of the Spaniards, and the shops are all closed because the Spaniards are panicking because there is no security whatsoever for the Spaniards. Now we have 60,000 people in a city with 80,000 people.”
Responding to the incident, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “It is a cause for concern, and we are making contact with the Spanish government, the Spanish authorities, to provide support, but also to understand the implications of that situation.”
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