Hundreds of migrants manage to enter the enclave of Melilla

Spain is facing for the second day in a row a massive influx of migrants from the African continent to the enclave of Melilla. 1,200 migrants “began, around 07:25 (06:25 GMT), to cross the fence (…) throwing stones and using hooks and sticks against the security forces” Spanish, “after having overwhelmed the Moroccan security forces”, a indicated the prefecture of the small enclave located on the northern coast of Morocco. According to the prefect of Melilla, Sabrina Moh Abdelkader, 380 managed to enter.

This new arrival comes the day after an attempt by around 2,500 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries to cross, the most massive ever recorded in this enclave, the only one with that of Ceuta to constitute a land border between the European Union and Africa. On Wednesday, 491 managed to enter Spanish territory and were still in Melilla on Thursday in a center for migrants.

An aggressive entry

In two days, more than 800 migrants have therefore managed to enter Melilla, compared to 1,092 for the whole of 2021, according to figures from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior. “The aggressiveness we witnessed, yesterday as today (…) had not been observed on other occasions”, denounced the prefect on public television. According to the local authorities, who announced the arrival “in the next few hours” of a reinforcement of a hundred police officers, 27 members of the police were injured on Wednesday and 20 on Thursday.

For its part, theMoroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) had reported on Wednesday about thirty injured migrants, including three or four seriously. According to the AMDH, 250 migrants were arrested on Thursday and placed in a youth center, transformed into a detention center, in the Moroccan town of Kariat Arekmane, and will then be removed by the authorities of the area.

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