The migration crisis in Greece has been the focus of global media attention since July, when swelling numbers of refugees from war-torn Syria and illegal migrants from the wider Middle East and south Asia region continued to land on various Greek islands.

However, other European countries in the western Mediterranean are also coming under pressure. Spain’s number of illegal migrants has jumped by 68 per cent in 2014. The majority of irregular migrants enter the country through the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, territories in North Africa. The total of immigrants entering Spain was more than 12,000 in 2014 compared to 7,500 in 2013.

A video shows migrants rioting in the Spanish city of Tarragona, in the eastern province of Catalonia. Police were conducting checks on illegal street vendors when the situation quickly degenerated into chaos, with the foreign nationals throwing rocks at police cars.