Around 500 people gather outside the Moroccan consulate in Barcelona due to the migration crisis

BARCELONA / CEUTA — Approximately 500 people gathered on a Friday night outside the Consulate of Morocco in Barcelona to protest the ongoing migration crisis in Ceuta. The demonstration was convened by various organizations under the slogan 'Defensa Catalunya, Defiende'.

The protests follow a massive migratory influx into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, where around 60,000 people entered from Morocco by both sea and land. At least 34 people died during the attempts.

The surge prompted the Spanish government to characterize the wave of arrivals as an attack on its territorial integrity. The situation has also generated a wider crisis within the European Union.