More than a month after an estimated 72,000 people suddenly crossed from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta, the city remains in chaos and the damage inflicted on the Spanish government is becoming clearer. Most of those who made the crossing have returned to Morocco. The scale of the incident was nevertheless extraordinary, and about 140 people are thought to have died.

Also extraordinary was the response of the 22 EU governments that rounded on the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, rather than demonstrate the solidarity one might expect from allies. Perhaps less surprising was the exploitation of the crisis by rightwing and far-right parties in Spain and beyond, Donald Trump’s attacks and the interventions of Russian state-linked actors and Israeli critics on social media to fuel division.

But this opportunism by Europe’s rightwing governments – Italy suspended its Schengen arrangements with Spain for no good reason – does not absolve Spain of blame. What has unfolded since 30 July is tragic for Ceuta, which has a permanent population of only about 84,000 people, and for the thousands of people, including an estimated 1,200 unaccompanied children, left on its streets and beaches. Sánchez’s government must take responsibility for some of the damage it is now belatedly trying to mop up.

On 1 August, in the aftermath of the border breach, Sánchez reassured the EU that “virtually all” of the people who had arrived in Ceuta had returned to Morocco. The overwhelming........

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