Tens of thousands of migrants rushed into Spain’s north African territory of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco in late July 2026, but video circulating on social media of hundreds of people walking across a hillside is unrelated to the influx. The person who filmed the video told AFP it in fact shows pilgrims visiting a religious site in southeastern Turkey and was filmed weeks before Ceuta’s migrant crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Spain is being massively invaded by Moroccans; the country is in peril! God forbid I ever see the country name ‘Islamic Republic of Spain’ in my lifetime,” says the simplified Chinese caption of an X video<\/a> shared on July 31, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n The video shows hundreds of people clambering across a hillside, with a campground visible in the valley below.<\/p>\n Screenshot of the false post captured on August 3, 2026, with a red X added by AFP<\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n It circulated after tens of thousands of migrants<\/a> poured into Spain’s north African territory of Ceuta, most by swimming from the nearby Moroccan city of Fnideq ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n Migration from Morocco into Spain’s two north African territories, Ceuta and Melilla, has long been a politically sensitive issue between the two countries, as thousands cross the border at times. But the unprecedented rush of irregular migrants from July 30 sparked\u00a0tensions with Spain’s EU partners, with Italy and Denmark calling for the country to be suspended from the bloc’s visa-free Schengen travel zone.<\/p>\n Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the surge did not “compromise” the Schengen area, and that 70,000 out of 72,000 migrants who reached the territory had already been returned. Those who remain face squalid living conditions with limited access to shelter, food, water and sanitation, AFP reporters in Ceuta saw.<\/p>\n Some 77 migrants\u00a0 died<\/a> attempting to reach Ceuta, Spanish officials said on August 5 ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The circulating footage was also shared in similar Chinese\u00a0 Threads<\/a> and X posts<\/a>, as well as<\/a> in other languages<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the video does not show migrants attempting to reach Spain.<\/p>\n A\u00a0 keyword search<\/a> of the “bedri.caner5” watermark seen on the clip led to a TikTok account by that name that published the same footage on July 5<\/a> — weeks before the migrant influx at Ceuta ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The TikTok video’s caption also says it was filmed on\u00a0 Mount Cudi<\/a> in southeastern Turkey ( archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n