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Morocco: 18 migrants die while trying to enter the Spanish city of Melilla Migration news

Morocco: 18 migrants die while trying to enter the Spanish city of Melilla  Migration news
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Officials say the deaths came as about 2,000 migrants crossed into the Spanish enclave of North Africa.

Moroccan officials say 18 migrants have been killed and dozens injured as a result of a “crowd” of people trying to cross into the Spanish enclave of Melilla in North Africa.

A spokesman for the Spanish government’s office in Melilla said about 2,000 people tried to enter the North African city on Friday morning and that about 130 people had successfully crossed the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave during a two-hour shootout.

The Moroccan Interior Ministry said the casualties occurred as refugees and migrants tried to climb an iron border fence separating the two areas. The ministry said five migrants were killed, 76 were injured and 140 Moroccan security officers were injured.

The Moroccan official MAP news agency quoted local authorities as saying that 13 of the injured migrants later died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 18. The Moroccan Human Rights Association said 27 people had been killed, but that number could be confirmed immediately.

Spanish officials said 49 Civil Guards were slightly injured. Four police cars were damaged by stones thrown by some migrants.

In the images spread in the Spanish press, tired refugees and migrants lying on the sidewalk in Melilla, some of them with blood on their hands and turned into clothes. Those who managed to cross went to a local migrant center, where the authorities assessed their condition.

The incident at the border crossing was the first after Morocco and Spain restored diplomatic relations In March.

“A large group of sub-Saharanians [Africans] “Barrio Chino broke the entrance to the border checkpoint, jumped from the roof of the checkpoint and entered Melilla,” the Spanish government delegation said in a statement.

“It simply came to our notice then [are] men and probably adults, ”he added. The migrants arrived at the crossing at 6:40 am local time, and the crossing took place at 8:40 am (GMT 06:40).

Melilla and Ceuta, Spain’s other small North African enclave, have the European Union’s only land border with Africa, making them a magnet for migrants.

Morocco has deployed “a large number” of troops to try to repel the crowd across the border and “actively cooperated” with Spanish security forces, the Spanish delegation said in a separate statement.

In March this year, Spain ended a year-long diplomatic crisis by backing Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara and returning to decades of neutrality.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez then visited Rabat, and the two governments welcomed a “new phase” in relations.

When did the debate begin Madrid allowed Brahim GaliThe leader of the pro-independence Polisario Front in Western Sahara will be treated for COVID-19 in a Spanish hospital in April 2021.

A month later, add 10,000 migrants crossing the Moroccan border The Spanish enclave of Ceuta The Moroccan border guards looked the other way, which was accepted by Rabat as a punitive gesture.

Rabat calls for Western Sahara to have autonomous status under Moroccan sovereignty, but the Western Sahara Polisario movement wants a UN-sponsored referendum on self-determination, as agreed in a 1991 ceasefire pact.

In the days leading up to the diplomatic crisis between Morocco and Spain, there were several massive attempts by migrants in Melilla, including one of the largest attempts to register 2,500 people.

Government figures show that the resumption of Spain’s ties with Morocco has led to a drop in arrivals, and the number of migrants arriving in the Canary Islands in April was 70 percent lower than in February.

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