
Dozens of migrants were filmed storming a beach in southern Spain on Friday as confused sunbathing nudists watched the remarkable scenes unfolding.

The dramatic clip, taken on the beach at Tarifa, showed a group of more than 30 migrants landing in a dinghy before sprinting off into woodland surrounding the beach to evade the pursuing Spanish border guards.

The news comes as the mayor of the nearby Spanish port of Algeciras warned that his town is at the centre of a 'new migrant crisis' after 1,000 arrivals flooded his town in the last week alone.

Slamming the EU for its lack of action José Ignacio Landaluce warned his town risked becoming 'the new Lampedusa' - an Italian island which has been overrun with migrants.

Spain has overtaken Italy as the preferred destination for migrant arrivals in Europe this year after Italy's new hardline interior minister Matteo Salvini introduced a blanket ban on migrant boats entering the country's ports.

Around 1,600 migrants reached Spanish shores this week alone, with the majority of the new arrivals funneling through Algeciras.

'I hope the EU is working on a global policy on this: it may be our problem initially, but tomorrow, or in a week's time, or a month's, it'll be at the heart of Europe,' Landaluce said.

A group of migrants sprint away up the beach near Tarifa as they flee border control authorities on the Spanish coast

A group of confused nudists watch on as dozens of migrants stream past them after landing on the beach in a popular resort

Moroccan migrants are seen on a dinghy as they cross the Strait of Gibraltar sailing from the coast of Morocco before disembarking at 'Del Canuelo' beach in Tarifa on Friday

The mayor of Algeciras said his town is at the center of a 'new migrant crisis' as he dealt with 1,000 new arrivals, while the nearby town of Tarifa saw another wave of migrants landing on Friday

'We've never, ever, ever had 1,000 migrants arriving in Spain each weekend. And all this could just be for starters.

'There's a lot of the summer left and there are thousands and thousands of migrants arriving on the coasts of north Africa and thousands and thousands more who have been waiting to cross for months or years.'

'We have to talk about the actions of people who come to our shores so that our area does not become the new Lampedusa of the Western Mediterranean.'

The town of 120,000 has been unable to house all the migrants arriving this week, with some forced to sleep on rescue boats and in police cells.

Only yesterday, 600 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa strormed a double border fence at Ceuta, with some throwing excrement or quicklime at security forces to force their way in.

A spokesman for the Guardia Civil police force in Ceuta said the migrants managed to climb over the double barrier, which is covered in small blades.

The migrant dinghy was pictured steaming towards the beach at full speed as baffled beachgoers watched on with consternation

A boat from the Spanish Guarda Civil had tried to intercept the dinghy while it was still in the water, but the migrants sped off and fled from the authorities

As they got ever closer to Spanish terra firma some of the first migrants made a break for it and leapt over the side of the boat

A woman and her child are unloaded by aid workers in the port of Tarifa, southern Spain after being rescued by Spanish border guards

A migrant washes his feet with a bottle of water provided by Spanish authorities after being unloaded at the docks in Tarifa

A member of the Spanish civil guard distributes bottles of water to migrants as they wait to be transferred after arriving aboard a coast guard boat at the harbour in Tarifa

A group of migrants on a crowded rescue boat lie down in the sweltering heat as they wait in Tarifa harbour

A group of migrants prepare to disembark after arriving at the port of Algeciras, Spain from North Africa

Dozens of migrants intercepted near Gibraltar are brought aboard a rescue boat by hazmat suit-wearing officials at Algeciras

Migrants intercepted aboard eleven toy dinghies off the coast in the Strait of Gibraltar, rest after arriving on a rescue boat at the port of Tarifa, Spain

They scrambled over 'all of a sudden, with much violence,' and some attacked police with quicklime they had in tubes and bottles.

As a result, 'more than a dozen police' were injured with the substance, four of whom had to go to hospital for burns to their faces and arms.

Some of the migrants scaling the fences threw faeces at police officers trying to hold them back, Spanish news agency Europa Press reported, citing unidentified police sources and emergency crews.

The Spanish Red Cross said in a tweet it was called to check on 592 people after the massive charge.

The charity found that 132 migrants had been injured as they scaled the high, barbed-wire fences.

Isabel Brasero, spokeswoman for the Red Cross, said there were no serious injuries among the migrants, but 11 were taken to hospital for stitches to cuts and possible fractures.

Twenty-two police officers in total were hurt in the rush, four of whom were hospitalised for burns.

Some 600 migrants reached Spain in a mass jump of the Spanish border yesterday morning

An African migrant in this image risks injury to clamber across the border from Morocco to Spain's north African enclave of Ceuta

About 600 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have reached Spain after storming a double border fence

There were no serious injuries among the migrants who managed to climb across the barrier, and those who made it over the border showed their happiness, above

Migrants charged border fences separating Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco shortly before dawn yesterday

Brasero said that after the migrants had climbed over the barrier, they ran to the centre that houses migrants once they arrive in Spanish territory.

The Spanish government did not immediately say how many migrants made it onto Spanish soil.

Sub-Saharan Africans living illegally in Morocco try to get to Europe each year by climbing rows of 6m-high (20-foot-high) barbed-wire fences surrounding Ceuta and Melilla, Spain's other North African enclave.

This morning's mass charge added to pressure on Spanish authorities from a recent wave of migration.

Today's scramble over the barrier is the biggest in Ceuta since February 2017, when more than 850 migrants entered the overseas territory over four days.

It comes as Spain becomes the number one destination for migrants crossing the Mediterranean by boat, surpassing Italy with 19,586 arrivals by sea to date.

The International Organization for Migration says so far this year that more than 22,700 migrants have arrived in Spain – three times more than in the same period last year.

Ceuta and Melilla, on Morocco's northern border, have the EU's only land borders with Africa, which is why many migrants try to reach them.

Some migrants celebrate in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in northern Africa, after they successfully cleared the border fence

A moment of celebration for these migrants, after they managed to jump the border fence between Spain and Morocco

A view of several pairs of shoes left by migrants who managed to jump off the border fence today, July 26

Ceuta and Melilla, on Morocco's northern border, have the EU's only land borders with Africa, which is why many migrants try to reach them

Several migrants celebrate next to a Spanish policeman after they managed to jump the border fence between Spain and Morocco

The Spanish government did not immediately say how many migrants made it onto Spanish soil

Happy migrants were cheering and dancing in the street, including this man above, as police speak to the group

Perched above dangerous barbed wire, this man has already had his clothes shredded by the sharp blades

The International Organization for Migration says so far this year that more than 22,700 migrants have arrived in Spain – three times more than in the same period last year. It is not known as yet what will happen to the 600 who stormed the barrier to Ceuta