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Date Published: 24/06/2022

500 migrants storm Spain-Morocco border in Melilla

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The mass crossing is the first since Spain and Morocco resolved a diplomatic spat over Western Sahara

500 migrants storm Spain-Morocco border in Melilla

Around 500 migrants have stormed the border separating Spain's Melilla enclave from Morocco in the first attempted mass crossing since the two countries resolved a diplomatic dispute in March.

According to the Government Delegation in the autonomous city, 133 people managed to force their way through fencing at around 8.30am on Friday June 24, 57 of whom were injured with three needing to be hospitalised.

Around 50 Spanish police officers were also hurt in the stampede after more than 1,500 tried to get close to the perimeter at 6.40am with a third of them actually making it to the barbed fence two hours later.

“A large group of sub-Saharans [Africans] … broke through the access gate of the Barrio Chino border checkpoint and entered Melilla by jumping over the roof of the checkpoint,” said the Spanish government’s delegation in a statement.

More than 2,000 North African migrants try to break into Melilla today 24.6.2022. About 100 migrants managed to enter Spain.#Melilla #Spain pic.twitter.com/oKvI290vQ7
— Based 🇫🇮 (@Based_FIN) June 24, 2022

It added that they "forced their way in, despite the fact that the entry mechanism is designed to make it difficult for more than one person to pass through a system of turnstiles and fences that hinder passage".

On the other side of the fence, the area appeared to be enveloped in a cloud of smoke and the shots of the cannons used by the Moroccan forces to stop the forced entry could be heard.

During the San Juan festivities (June 23/24), the Spanish authorities reportedly received forewarning of a mass entry attempt from Morocco, and Moroccan security forces were immediately deployed around the perimeter. In the early hours of Friday morning, there was a "fierce clash" between Moroccan troops and huge crowds trying to approach the fence.

Last Saturday, June 18, around 100 Moroccan police officers were injured in a violent confrontation with a large group that had gathered in a wooded area on the outskirts of Nador, where migrants regularly harassed by Moroccan security forces take refuge.

Faced with the threat of an attempt to enter Melilla, Moroccan forces were deployed to disperse the group, and were attacked with sticks and stones.

Friday's incident is the biggest mass attempt since March when Melilla experienced a record illegal entry; some 900 people managed to enter the city in two days (500 in a single morning); when more than 2,500 tried to storm the border in broad daylight.

The local government interpreted the entry as a threat from Morocco in the midst of a diplomatic crisis between Madrid and Rabat. Two weeks later, Pedro Sánchez's government decided to make a historic shift in Spain's stance on Western Sahara and back Morocco's sovereignty proposal for autonomy for the former colony against the plan for a referendum on independence.

The move restored relations with Morocco, but opened a new confrontation with Algeria.

Now read: 7 boat skippers arrested for bringing 200 migrants from Algeria to Murcia

Image: Twitter