Spain has blamed people-trafficking “mafias” for the deaths of an estimated 23 to 37-plus migrants during an attempt to break through border fences.
Melilla, one of two exclaves of Spain lying across from its European mainland on the coast of North Africa, saw around 2,000 migrants attempt to storm its border from Morocco, with 23 deaths officially confirmed as of the time of publication and charities claiming much higher estimates.
Migrants were seen using a radial saw and sledgehammer to destroy sections of the border fortifications around Melilla, and many armed themselves with stones and makeshift clubs.
The Moroccan authorities, who have been accused of using brutal tactics to try and prevent the crossings from their side, report that around 140 of their officials were injured, and that the migrants who died were killed in something like a crush or stampede during an attempt to scale an iron fence.
A number of Spanish police officers were also injured, according to The Times.
“If there is anyone responsible for everything that appears to have taken place at the border, it is the mafias that traffic in human beings,” declared Pedro Sanchez, the Social Party politician who serves as Spain’s prime minister.
Podemos, another leftist party which forms a part of Sanchez’s coalition government, has pointed the finger at border authorities and implied racial bias, however.
“If [the migrants] were blond and European, there would be emergency meetings at the highest level, television specials on their life stories and their families, and a total rupture of relations with the country whose police action has caused this tragedy,” asserted party spokesman Pablo Echenique, demanding the European Union — of which Spain is a member — investigate the incident.
Accusations of Europe having double standards on immigrants since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to which Echenique’s comments are clearly directed, have been widespread.
At least 133 migrant are said to have been successful in reaching Spanish territory during the attack, with border breaches for the year so far at Melilla and Spain’s other North African exclave of Ceuta up 80 per cent compared to the same period in 2021.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.