Some 2,500 migrants storm Spain’s Melilla border

Around 2,500 migrants tried to storm the border separating Spain’s Melilla enclave from Morocco on Wednesday in the largest such attempt on record, officials said, with almost 500 getting across.

Spanish authorities said 16 Spanish police and security officials sustained minor injuries in the attempt, while 20 migrants were treated in hospital for mostly light injuries before being transferred to a migrant reception centre.

Melilla and Ceuta, Spain’s other tiny North African enclave, are the European Union’s only land borders with Africa, making them a magnet for migrants desperate to escape grinding poverty and hunger.

“This was the biggest entry attempt we have on record,” the Spanish government’s local delegation said.

“Around 9:30 am, there was a huge attempt to cross Melilla’s border by a group of about 2,500 sub-Saharan Africans,” it said.

Some spiked shoes and others used hooks to scale the barrier surrounding the tiny territory, as well as throwing stones at police, it added.

The migrants “overwhelmed the Moroccan security forces who were trying to prevent them from reaching the fence,” it said.

The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) said around 30 migrants had been injured, including three or four seriously, and had been admitted to the Hassani hospital in the border town of Nador.

Others who had been pushed back by Spanish authorities were put on buses to be transported away from the border, according to a video on the NadorCity.com website.

The Moroccan interior ministry did not immediately comment.

Most of those trying to cross were blocked by Spanish police.

– Flashpoint in Spain-Morocco ties –

Footage published by Spanish newspaper El Faro de Melilla showed hundreds of migrants cheering as they raced down a road towards the city.

Many shouted “Boza, boza!” or “victory” in Fulani, a language widely spoken in western and central Africa.

The paper also said at least a dozen migrants got stuck on top of the towering fence, with the police using ladders to get them down.

Melilla and Ceuta are favoured entry points for African migrants seeking a better life in Europe, who try to climb over the border fence or swim along the coast.

Claimed by Morocco, the two cities have long been a flashpoint in diplomatic relations with Madrid insisting both are integral parts of Spain.

In mid-May 2021, Spain was caught off guard when more than 10,000 people swam or used small inflatable boats to enter Ceuta as Moroccan border forces looked the other way.

The influx took place during a diplomatic crisis between Madrid and Rabat over Western Sahara, which has long pushed for independence from Morocco.

Madrid had angered Morocco by allowing the leader of Western Sahara’s independence movement into Spain for hospital treatment for a severe case of Covid-19, sparking a standoff between the two countries.

The unprecedented border breach was widely seen as a punitive move by Rabat.

Last year 1,092 migrants managed to enter Melilla, a 23-percent drop from 2020, according to interior ministry figures.