Eighteen Africans trying to cross into Spain were killed and Moroccan authorities on Friday called a “stampede” of people across Morocco’s border fence with the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla, leaving several migrants and police injured.
A total of 133 migrants breached the border between the Moroccan cities of Nador and Melilla on Friday, the first such mass crossing since Spain and Morocco improved diplomatic relations last month. A spokesman for the Spanish government’s office in Melilla said some 2,000 people attempted to cross, but many were stopped by Spanish Civil Guard police and Moroccan forces on either side of the border fence.
Riot police officers cordoned off the area after migrants arrived on Spanish soil and crossed the fence separating the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco. (Photo: AP)
Morocco’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that there were casualties when people tried to climb the iron fence. It said five migrants were killed and 76 wounded, and 140 Moroccan security officials were injured.
13 of the injured migrants later died in hospital, raising the death toll to 18, according to Morocco’s official news agency MAP, which cited local officials. The Moroccan Human Rights Association reported 27 deaths, but this figure could not be confirmed immediately.
It was the first such incursion since Spain and Morocco improved diplomatic relations last month. (Photo: AP)
Spanish officials said 49 civil guards suffered minor injuries. Four police vehicles were damaged by stones thrown by some migrants.
Those who managed to cross went to a local migrant centre, where officials were evaluating their circumstances.
People fleeing poverty and violence sometimes made large attempts to reach the North African coast, Melilla on Ceuta, and other Spanish territory as a springboard for continental Europe.
Spain is generally dependent on Morocco to keep migrants away from the border.
According to Spanish officials, over two days in early March, more than 3,500 people tried to measure the six-metre (20-foot) barrier that surrounded Melilla, and about 1,000 crossed it.
Friday’s crossing was the first attempt since March to improve relations between Spain and Morocco after a year-long dispute centered on Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1976.
Migrants climb the fence separating the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco. (Photo: AP)
Morocco loosened its controls around Ceuta last year, allowing thousands of migrants to cross into Spain. The move was seen as a retaliation for Spain’s decision to allow the leader of the pro-independence movement of Western Sahara to be treated for COVID-19 in a Spanish hospital.
Tensions between the two countries began earlier this year when Spain backed Morocco’s plan to give more autonomy to Western Sahara, where activists are demanding full independence.