Thread: Migrants make new border incursion to enter Spanish city

MADRID (AP) — Some 130 migrants breached the border between Morocco and the Spanish city of Melilla on Friday, the first such incursion since Spain and Morocco mended diplomatic relations last month.


A spokesperson for the Spanish government's office in Melilla said about 2,000 people attempted to enter the North African city but many were stopped by Spanish Civil Guard police and Moroccan forces on the other side of a border fence.


Those who succeeded in crossing went to a local migrant center, where authorities were evaluating their circumstances.

Several migrants and police officers were slightly injured, said the spokesperson, who could not be identified by name in keeping with government rules.


People fleeing poverty and violence sometimes make mass attempts to reach Melilla and the other Spanish territory on the North African coast, Ceuta, as a springboard to continental Europe.


Spain normally relies on Morocco to keep migrants away from the border.


Over two days at the beginning of March, more than 3,500 people tried to scale the 6-meter (20-foot) barrier that surrounds Melilla and nearly 1,000 made it across, according to Spanish authorities.


Friday's crossings were the first attempt since relations between Spain and Morocco improved in March after a year-long dispute centered on the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1976.


Morocco loosened its controls around Ceuta last year, allowing thousands of migrants to cross into Spain. The move was viewed as retaliation for Spain’s decision to allow the leader of Western Sahara’s pro-independence movement to be treated for COVID-19 at a Spanish hospital.


Tensions between the two countries began to thaw earlier this year after Spain backed Morocco’s plan to grant more autonomy to Western Sahara, where activists are seeking full independence.

Migrants make new border incursion to enter Spanish city | Taiwan News | 2022-06-24 2022

Groups in Spain and Morocco push for border deaths inquiry

MADRID (AP) — Human rights organizations in Spain and Morocco have called on both countries to investigate the deaths of at least 18 Africans and injuries suffered by dozens more who attempted to scale the border fence that surrounds Melilla, a Spanish enclave in North Africa.


Moroccan authorities said the casualties occurred when a “stampede” of people tried to climb the iron fence that separates Melilla and Morocco. In a statement released Friday, Morocco’s Interior Ministry said 76 civilians were injured along with 140 Moroccan security officers.


Local authorities cited by Morocco’s official MAP news agency said the death toll increased to 18 after several migrants died in the hospital. The Moroccan Human Rights Association reported 27 dead, but the figure could not immediately be confirmed.


The association also shared videos on social media that appeared to show dozens of migrants lying on the ground, many of them motionless and a few bleeding, as Moroccan security forces stood over them.


“They were left there without help for hours, which increased the number of deaths,” the human rights group said on Twitter. It called for a “comprehensive” investigation.


In another of the association’s videos, a Moroccan security officer appeared to use a baton to strike a person lying on the ground.


In a statement released late Friday, Amnesty International expressed its “deep concern” over the events at the border.


“Although the migrants may have acted violently in their attempt to enter Melilla, when it comes to border control, not everything goes," Esteban Beltrán, the director of Amnesty International Spain, said. "The human rights of migrants and refugees must be respected and situations like that seen cannot happen again.”


APDHA, a human rights group based in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, and a joint statement released by five rights organizations in Morocco also called for inquiries.


A spokesperson for the Spanish government’s office in Melilla said that around 2,000 people had attempted to make it across the border fence but were stopped by Spanish Civil Guard Police and Moroccan forces on either side of the border fence. A total 133 migrants made it across the border.

Groups in Spain and Morocco push for border deaths inquiry | Taiwan News | 2022-06-25 20:20:52