Rabat, June 35 (BNA) Eighteen Africans trying to cross into Spain were killed and dozens of migrants and police were injured in what Moroccan authorities described as a “scramble” of people across the Moroccan border fence with the Spanish enclave of Melilla in North Africa.
A total of 133 migrants breached the border between the Moroccan cities of Nador and Melilla on Friday, in the first mass crossing of its kind since diplomatic relations between Spain and Morocco were repaired last month, the Associated Press reported.
A spokesman for the Spanish government office in Melilla said about 2,000 people tried to cross, but that many were stopped by Spanish police and Moroccan forces on both sides of the border fence.
The Moroccan Interior Ministry said in a statement that the victims occurred when people tried to climb the iron fence. It added that five migrants were killed and 76 wounded, and 140 Moroccan security officers were wounded.
Thirteen injured migrants later died in hospital, raising the death toll to 18, according to the official Moroccan News Agency, which quoted local authorities. The Moroccan Association for Human Rights reported 27 dead, but this number can be confirmed immediately.
Spanish officials said 49 members of the Civil Guard were slightly injured. Four police cars were damaged by stones thrown by some migrants.
Those who succeeded in crossing went to a local immigrant center, where authorities were assessing their conditions.
People fleeing poverty and violence sometimes make collective attempts to reach Melilla and other Spanish territories on the North African coast, Ceuta, as a springboard to mainland Europe.
Spain usually relies on Morocco to keep migrants away from the border.
Over the course of two days at the beginning of March, more than 3,500 people attempted to climb the six-meter (20-foot) barrier that surrounds Melilla and nearly 1,000 people crossed it, according to Spanish authorities.
Friday’s crossings were the first attempt since relations between Spain and Morocco improved in March after a year-long dispute centered on Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1976.
Morocco loosened its control of Ceuta last year, allowing thousands of migrants to cross into Spain. The move was seen as retaliation for Spain’s decision to allow the leader of the pro-independence Western Sahara movement to be treated for COVID-19 in a Spanish hospital.
Tensions between the two countries began to thaw earlier this year after Spain backed Morocco’s plan to grant more autonomy to Western Sahara, as activists seek full independence.