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Ceuta

In the space of roughly twenty-four hours in late July, an estimated 60,000 people crossed from Moroccan territory into Ceuta, the Spanish city that sits on the North African coast. Ceuta's usual population is a little over 85,000. The arithmetic is what made the event historic: a city absorbed a crowd equivalent to seven in ten of its own residents before its administration had finished its first emergency meeting.

• The crossing was concentrated at two coastal pinch points rather than distributed along the fence line.
• A large share of those who arrived were young men, but Spanish authorities also registered several thousand unaccompanied minors — the group that will define the legal aftermath.
• Spain's Guardia Civil and army units were redeployed within hours, but processing capacity, not manpower, became the binding constraint.
• Temporary reception was improvised in warehouses, sports halls and a disused industrial site, none of which is designed for medical triage at scale.