Melilla: 119 migrants manage to enter the Spanish border
AFP/Infomigrants, 12 July 2021
A group of around 200 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa tried to scale the metal fence separating Morocco and Melilla at around 4.30am on Monday 12 July, Spanish authorities told AFP.
The Spanish Civil Guard and Moroccan police quickly mobilised to try to stop them, but 119 people managed to force their way through and enter the Spanish territory. Five civil guards and one migrant were injured in the operation.
The 119 migrants were immediately taken to the Temporary Stay Centre (CETI, detention centre) and placed in a special area to be tested for Covid-19.
Regular crossing attempts
On 15 June, at around 5.30 a.m., around 150 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, had attempted to enter the southern border of Melilla, the Spanish enclave in Morocco. The assault took place near the beach of Dique, not far from the Moroccan port of Beni Ansar. According to the police, the assault was violent: migrants armed with sticks threw stones at the police, injuring around twenty of them, but were nevertheless repulsed.
However, the attempted crossings, although almost daily, generally involve fewer people. They “often involve around 30 people”, but rarely more than 100, a member of CEAR (Spanish Commission for Aid to Refugees) told InfoMigrants.
On 19 January, around 150 migrants had already tried to force their way through the high fence separating the Spanish enclave of Melilla from northern Morocco, and 87 had succeeded.
