Spain deploys army in Ceuta to patrol border with Morocco after thousands break in

FILE PHOTO: Brahim Ghali, new secretary general of Polisario Front and president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), reacts during an extraordinary congress at the Sahrawi refugee camp of Dakhla, southeast of the Algerian city of Tindouf, July 9, 2016. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain has deployed troops to Ceuta to patrol the border with Morocco after thousands of migrants swam into the northern African enclave amid heightened diplomatic tensions, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on Tuesday.

Footage from local Faro TV channel showed soldiers in armoured vehicles guarding the enclave's beach as dozens of migrants emerged from the water while hundreds of potential migrants stood on the Moroccan side of the fence between the enclave and Morocco.