Hundreds of people from various organizations gathered on Sunday in the Plaza del Callao in Madrid to denounce the migratory tragedy in Nador. According to the Spanish press, the Asamblea Antirracista de Madrid and the #RegularizaciónYa movement had called for this rally “against the massacre in Melilla”, urging participants to wear black clothes and a flower.
The government delegation in Madrid said around 600 people took part in the rally to chant slogans against the “massacre” at the Melilla border between Spain and Morocco, and demand that the Spanish authorities “respect” the rights immigrants. After reading several manifestos, the participants in the rally lay down on the ground in the central square of Callao recreating one of the videos that have circulated in the media over the past two days, in which we can see dozens of migrants lying down, guarded by the Moroccan police authorities after the attack on the fence.
“We are here to denounce the massacre that took place in Melilla, where more than 30 people died, and the hypocrisy of this government, which claims that the Moroccan army and the State Security Forces and Corps (FCSE) did a good job in this massacre that took place on the border of Melilla and in Nador”, criticized Yeison García, spokesperson for Regularización Ya.
Friday morning, a group of migrants from several African countries tried to climb the fence of Melilla leading to an intervention by the Moroccan police. The Moroccan authorities reported 140 injuries, including 5 serious among the agents. The latest assessment from the authorities reports 23 deaths among sub-Saharan migrants. Several NGOs have since denounced “the failure of security migration policies” and called for the opening of an independent investigation.
