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Why thousands of migrants entered Spain's Ceuta territory | Global News Podcast

Tens of thousands of people have crossed from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa - many of them swimming or wading around the border fence. Spanish authorities say dozens of people died trying make the journey - either by drowning or being crushed. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has described the situation as an "attack", blaming human traffickers for deceiving young people. The prime minister vowed to return all illegal migrants to Morocco as soon as possible. Many thousands have already left voluntarily.

Several European leaders have expressed concern, with some promising to tighten border controls. Italy's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the images from Ceuta as "shocking", and said that "uncontrolled immigration" was a security threat to Europe.

We ask the BBC's southern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford what caused the sudden rush of migrants, and what will happen to them now.

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00:00 Introduction 00:25 Why Ceuta is a migrant destination 01:27 Migrants rush into Spanish territory of Ceuta 02:40 Migrant deaths 03:46 Who were the migrants who arrived in Ceuta? 05:20 What will happen to the migrants? 06:58 Italy threatens to close borders 08:11 Spain and Morocco relations

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