Morocco says 23 migrants died during attempted crossing of 2,000 into Spanish enclave, with ‘dozens piled on the ground’
- Video images of apparent aftermath of mass crossing attempt of 2,000 into Spanish enclave Melilla showed bleeding and motionless people
- Footage was shared by AMDH, a Moroccan rights group; authorities said the dead either fell from a fence or were crushed in a ‘stampede’
Dozens of people were pictured lying on the ground, some bleeding and many motionless, in video images purporting to show the aftermath of a mass crossing of migrants from Morocco into a Spanish enclave on Friday in which at least 23 have died.
The footage, which Reuters was not immediately able to verify, was shared by AMDH, a Moroccan rights group that works with migrants in parts of northern Morocco including areas surrounding the Melilla enclave.
Moroccan state television said on Saturday 23 migrants had died, some from falling from a high fence while others were crushed after what they called a stampede. The local office of AMDH put the death toll at 27, without giving details on its information.
Some 2,000 migrants had tried to storm the enclave fence to cross into Spanish territory, sparking two hours of violent clashes with security forces and border guards, Spanish and Moroccan authorities said, in which scores were also injured.
One video clip shared by AMDH showed a large number of African migrants lying closely piled together, their bodies overlapping, many motionless and a few making feeble gestures, with Moroccan security forces standing over them in riot gear.
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The same clip showed security forces pulling two bleeding and dazed-looking migrants past those lying on the ground.
Another clip shared by AMDH showed a Moroccan security officer striking one of several migrants lying prone next to a metal fence.
Moroccan authorities said 140 members of the Moroccan security forces were also injured, five seriously, though none died.
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A spokesman for the Spanish government in Melilla said no one had died on the Spanish side of the border, where 57 migrants and 49 police officers were injured.
Over the past decade, Melilla and Ceuta, a second Spanish enclave also on Africa’s northern coast, have become a magnet for mostly sub-Saharan migrants trying to get into Europe.
Friday’s attempt began around 6.40am local time in the face of resistance from Moroccan security forces.
At around 8.40am, more than 500 migrants began to enter Melilla, jumping over the roof of a border checkpoint after cutting through fencing with a bolt cutter, the Madrid government’s representative body there said in a statement.
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Most were forced back but around 130 men managed to reach the enclave and were being processed at its reception centre for immigrants, it added.
Footage posted on social media showed large groups of African youths walking along roads around the border, celebrating entering Melilla and the firing of what appeared to be tear gas by the authorities.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez paid tribute to officers on both side of the border for fighting off “a well-organised, violent assault” which he suggested was organised by “human trafficking mafias”.
He underscored the improvement in relations between Madrid and Rabat. In March, Spain recognised the position of Morocco towards the Western Sahara, a territory the North African nation claims as its own but where an Algeria-backed independence movement is demanding establishment of an autonomous state.
“I would like to thank the extraordinary cooperation we are having with the Kingdom of Morocco which demonstrates the need to have the best of relations,” he said.
