This Thursday morning, 238 people crossed the wall, before being taken to a residential center to observe a health quarantine.
150 kilometers from the border with Algeria, on the northeast coast of Morocco, stands a triple metal fence. Twelve kilometers of the wall about five meters high, punctuated with “hooks” and surmounted by cameras and watchtowers. The smoothed surface (fences allowed more grip before) did not prevent 238 people from climbing it this Thursday. It was 7 a.m. when these migrants managed to cross it and reach the Spanish enclave of Melilla, a small piece of Europe in Africa. According to local authorities, this is one of the most important crossings in recent years. By July 12, 119 migrants had already managed to reach the Spanish prefecture.
“Asilo!” The call sounded in the streets of Melilla – 12 km² in area, 87,000 inhabitants -, relayed in several videos posted on social networks by opponents demanding their “escort to the border”. Shortly after their arrival, the migrants were taken, according to the prefecture, to a residence center, where they will have to observe quarantine due to the health situation linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. About a hundred people failed in the attempt, no deaths were reported. Seventeen migrants were injured according to local radio station Onda Cero Melilla, including one with a fractured tibia and fibula. Three police officers were also slightly injured.
The diplomatic crisis between Spain and Morocco
The two Spanish enclaves on Moroccan soil, Melilla and Ceuta, the European Union’s only land borders with Africa, are often faced with massive arrivals of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Only two months ago, in the space of two days, 6,000 people had passed on the Spanish side, in the enclave of Melilla but also that of Ceuta, facing the tip of the Iberian Peninsula. A total of 10,000 people, mostly Moroccan, had joined Ceuta. A photo of a refugee comforted by a Red Cross volunteer then went viral.
These migrations of mid-May took place in a context of the diplomatic crisis between Spain and Morocco: the leader of the Saharawi separatists of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, opponent of the Moroccan royalty, was welcomed in Spain for treatment. of Covid-19. The movement claims in particular the full independence of Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco since 1976.
