Moroccan forces abort crossing attempt of 1,000 migrants to Melilla

Around 1,000 sub-Saharan migrants attempted to jump the Melilla fence from Morocco this Tuesday, March 8, only a few days after the Spanish enclave witnessed its biggest migration attempt with over 2,000 migrants climbing the border fence.

The Spanish Civil Guard detected the approach around 6 a.m when a large group of migrants made up of about a thousand people neared the border perimeter.

The migrants were “coordinated” and were divided into several groups, to try and make the crossing.

Shortly before 8 a.m, one of these groups, estimated at about 400 people, managed to reach the fence in the area established between Barrio Chino and Beni Enzar, where they were halted by Moroccan border security forces.

The extensive police device established by the Guardia Civil in collaboration with the National Police has remained at the foot of the fence in all areas along the border and aborted the attempt.

Spanish Local Police have also intervened and cut the roads to ensure the safety of the security forces and citizens.

This new attempt comes only days after over 2,000 sub-Saharan migrants flocked the Melilla border fence trying to cross to Spanish territory. Over 500 migrants have reportedly succeeded in that attempt.

Footage of border security officers beating up migrants climbing the fence went viral and sparked major uproar among Spaniards and Africans alike.

Spain’s interior minister defended the behavior of police who were filmed beating and pepper-spraying sub-Saharan migrants, insisting the officers’ use of force was “proportionate.”

Spain’s government additionally said that “the level of aggression” displayed by some of those trying to cross into Melilla was unprecedented, adding that about 60 civil guard and national police officers, and 52 migrants, were injured on Wednesday and Thursday.

Its delegate in the enclave said some people had screwed bolts to their shoes to help them cross, posing “a huge risk” to police.

Last week, the Melilla border underwent an unprecedented upsurge in illegal migration attempts.

Between Wednesday and Thursday last week alone, about 3,700 migrants tried to reach Spanish soil and 871 succeeded, according to Spanish Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

Faced with questions from PP and Vox about the situation at the Melilla fence, Grande-Marlaska stressed that one of the basic pillars on which the coalition government is working is “cooperation with neighboring countries,” in this case with Morocco.

“The consequence of this work was that the two jumps were less than expected,” he said while stressing that “this joint effort has prevented two other jumps, one last Friday and another this Monday, thanks to cooperation and coordination, loyalty and reliability with our neighbors.”

On the other hand, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights in Nador (AMDH) called out the “inhumane” treatment of the migrants, in stark contrast with authorities’ “open arms policy” towards Ukrainian refugees.

In the wake of several attempts to cross the border by migrants, most of whom are from sub-Saharan Africa, the association criticized “the role of Moroccan border policeman” in its anti-migration efforts.

AMDH shared multiple photos and videos from the region, on the road between Beni Ensar and Arekmane, showing “buses loaded with arrested migrants jostling in both directions, heading towards the detention center of Arekmane.”

As a result, and “based on the traffic of these buses,” the AMDH-Nador says it estimates the number of migrants arrested yesterday at “almost 200 sub-Saharan migrants and 40 Moroccans.”

On Tuesday morning, after a fourth attempt to cross the border, the NGO denounced “a wave of arrests of migrants which is carried out in Beni Ensar, Farkhana and on the Gourougou mountains.”

The NGO also denounced an “excessive militarization and mobilization of all human and material means” at the border between Melilla and Nador.

“The border with Melilla is the perfect place to highlight the total coordination between the Moroccan and Spanish authorities,” specifies AMDH, while wondering “where this coordination was when AMDH Nador asked in vain and repeatedly to open the border exceptionally to repatriate the bodies of Moroccans who died in Melilla to bury them near their families.”