More than 180 migrants have stormed a border post between Morocco and the Spanish territory of Ceuta, careering through with agents unable to stop them..
Migrants frequently attempt to storm the borders of Spain’s two enclaves in northern Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, often clambering up fences which are up to 6 metres tall and topped by razor wire.
The Red Cross said it had assisted 186 people following the morning rush across the border, adding that four migrants were taken to hospital.
“They entered at five in the morning running through,” a spokesman for the central government’s representative office said.
Ceuta and Melilla have the EU’s only land borders with Africa.
As a result, they are entry points for migrants desperate to get to Europe and who regularly try to climb the high border fences, swim along the coast or hide in vehicles crossing the frontier.
A police spokesman said this type of border-crossing attempt was very rare.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had any attempt of this kind here,” he said.
The migrants who reached Ceuta were eventually rounded up and taken to a reception centre, where they can apply for asylum in Spain.
Ceuta is ringed by a double wire fence eight kilometres long.
Last week, around 200 migrants stormed the high border fence, with 73 managing to get through using wire cutters and mallets.
The Red Cross said last week it had attended 7,400 migrants crossing into mainland Spain and Ceuta and Melilla so far this year, up from 3,600 in the same period a year ago.
