Around 2,000 migrants attacked the Melilla border fence
130 migrants broke the barrier of the Spanish exclave
About 130 migrants broke through the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla in North Africa. The Spanish government has announced that a total of around 2,000 people have tried to enter the EU in this way. Most were stopped.
About 2,000 migrants attacked the border fence of the Spanish exclave Melilla on Friday. 130 of them, who were “organized and violent”, managed to get from Morocco to Europe.
Rand 2,000 migrants tried to move from Morocco to the Spanish exclave of Melilla on Friday. According to local authorities, migrants stormed towards the border fence. The Spanish government’s office in Melilla said 130 people from sub-Saharan Africa had entered the exclave.
Moroccan law enforcement therefore pushed refugees in coordination with Spanish forces. However, a “large group” of people from sub-Saharan Africa who were “organized and violent” managed to gain entry to Melilla.
In March, several hundred migrants managed to reach Melilla via a meter-high border fence. Ceuta and Melilla, which form the EU’s only land border in Africa, are a regular destination for people who hope for a better life in Europe.
Migrants try to cross the border fence to Melilla
Tito: AP / Javier Bernardo
Border fences are equipped with barbed wire, video cameras and guard platforms. Pictures in the Spanish media on Friday showed pictures of migrants lying exhausted on the sidewalk, some with bleeding hands and torn clothes.
Diplomatic change, of course, by the Spanish government
The Spanish government made a diplomatic change of course in March after a long dispute over Morocco’s policy in Western Sahara. Madrid has recognized the Moroccan autonomy plan for the disputed area, which, among other things, envisages offering Western Sahara autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.
Since then, ferry connections between Spain and Morocco have been re-established and, among other things, police cooperation programs have been launched in Spanish exclaves.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez recently warned that Madrid will not “tolerate the tragedy of illegal immigration as a bargaining chip.” Illegal immigration should be listed as a security threat on the Alliance’s southern wing at the NATO summit at the end of June.
In recent years, thousands of migrants have tried to cross the Melilla-Morocco border for 12 km or the Ceuta-Morocco border for 8 km by climbing fences, swimming or hiding in cars. Migrants sometimes use hooks and poles to climb the border fence.
