On Friday, more than 2,000 migrants attempted to storm the border separating Spain’s Melilla enclave from Morocco. This was the first mass entry attempt since the two countries’ diplomatic relations were repaired in March.
Thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa ran across a field before storming the border fence on Friday morning, according to chaotic scenes at the EU’s only land border with Africa.
Around 2,000 migrants arrived at the border at first light, and more than 500 of them succeeded in crossing after hacking through a fence with shears, according to the Spanish government’s local delegation.
After a two-hour battle with border guards, 130 migrants—”all of them men and apparently adults”—managed to enter Melilla, the local delegation added.
As they ran through Melilla’s streets after storming the fence, migrants could be seen on video cheering and raising their arms in joy.
The only land borders between the European Union and Africa are in Spain’s other small North African outpost, Ceuta, and Melilla, which attracts a lot of migrants.
Even before the war made shipping Ukrainian grain to Somalia, Egypt, and other impoverished countries impossible, there are concerns that the drought in Africa and rising food prices could increase the number of migrants fleeing for Europe.
The delegation stated earlier in a separate statement that Morocco sent out a “large” number of forces to try to thwart the assault on the border and that these forces “cooperated actively” with Spain’s security forces.
It added that the migrants were “perfectly organized and violent,” but noted that a “significant number” did manage to enter Melilla.
Images in Spanish-language media showed weary migrants in Melilla lying on the sidewalk, some with bloody hands and ripped clothing.
Those who managed to cross went to a nearby migrant center where authorities assessed their situation.
Several hundred people were still gathered on the Moroccan side, according to a spokesperson for the Spanish government’s office in Melilla who requested anonymity in accordance with government regulations.
Mass migration attempts to reach Melilla and Ceuta, the other Spanish territory on the North African coast, as a stepping stone to continental Europe occasionally occur as a result of people fleeing poverty and violence.
To keep migrants away from the border, Spain typically relies on Morocco.
According to Spanish authorities, more than 3,500 people attempted to scale the 20-foot (6-meter) wall that surrounds Melilla at the beginning of March, with only about 1,000 succeeding.
Friday’s crossings were the first attempt since relations between Spain and Morocco improved in March after a year-long dispute centered on the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1976.
After ending the year-long diplomatic crisis, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez then visited Rabat, and the two governments hailed a ‘new stage’ in relations.
The row began when Madrid allowed Brahim Ghali, leader of Western Sahara’s pro-independence Polisario Front, to be treated for Covid-19 in a Spanish hospital in April 2021.
The conflict started when Madrid permitted Brahim Ghali, the head of the Western Sahara’s Polisario Front for Independence, to receive Covid-19 treatment in a Spanish hospital in April 2021.
In what was widely perceived as a punitive move by Rabat, border guards turned a blind eye as 10,000 migrants poured across the Moroccan border into Spain’s Ceuta enclave a month later.
The Polisario wants a UN-supervised referendum on self-determination, as agreed upon in a 1991 ceasefire agreement, while Rabat calls for the Western Sahara to have an autonomous status under Moroccan sovereignty.
Before Morocco and Spain mended their ties, there were several attempted mass migration crossings in Melilla, including the largest mass migration attempt ever with 2,500 people. Only about 500 people crossed.
The number of immigrants arriving in Spain’s Atlantic Canary Islands has decreased as a result of improved relations with Morocco, the country from which many migrants depart.
According to government statistics, the number of migrants who arrived in the Canary Islands in April was 70% lower than in February.
The use of the tragedy of illegal immigration as a tool of pressure, Sanchez warned earlier this month, “Will not be tolerated in Spain.”
When NATO comes together for a summit in Madrid on June 29–30, Spain will push to have “irregular migration” listed as one of the security threats on the alliance’s southern flank.
Numerous migrants have attempted to cross the 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) border between Melilla and Morocco or the 8-kilometer border between Ceuta and Spain over the years by scaling fences, swimming along the coast, or hiding in cars.
The two territories are guarded by barbed-wire-fortified fences, cameras, and watchtowers.
Violent confrontations between those trying to cross and the agents tasked with stopping them are part of the attempts.
Sometimes, migrants throw stones at police and attempt to scale the border fence using hooks and sticks.
The two cities, which are asserted by Morocco, have long been a source of friction in diplomatic ties between Rabat and Madrid, which maintains that both are essential components of Spain.
A better way to redistribute the burden of caring for migrants was demanded earlier this month by five European Union countries bordering the Mediterranean who fear potential waves of refugees driven by hunger out of Africa.
Concerned that a blockade on grain exports from Ukraine caused by Russia’s invasion might result in a flood of African refugees into southern Europe, the interior ministers from Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, and Spain concluded two days of talks in Venice.
A strong, unified EU immigration policy is required, according to Cypriot Interior Minister Nicos Nouris. Nouris remarked that “solidarity is not a slogan and cannot be devoid of meaning.”
Previous EU policies that allowed member states to offer to take some of the tens of thousands of migrants who were arriving in Italy, Greece, and other southern shores proved to be woefully insufficient.
Many EU nations remained silent. Others didn’t carry through even after promising to take in a small number of the hundreds of thousands of migrants saved from smugglers’ unseaworthy boats.
In our opinion, solidarity cannot be chosen, Nouris said.
He pointed out that after several years of accepting migrants, asylum seekers now make up 5% of the population of the island country in the eastern Mediterranean.
Millions of Ukrainian refugees who lately poured into northern EU countries including Poland, Hungary, and Romania were not discussed at the meeting.
Concerns that a drought in Africa and rising food prices even before the war made it impossible to ship Ukrainian grain to Somalia, Egypt, and other impoverished countries could increase the already alarmingly high number of hungry people give how Europe handles large numbers of migrants a special urgency.
An estimated 18 million people in the Sahel, the region of Africa lying below the Sahara desert, are suffering from severe hunger as farmers deal with their poorest crop production season in more than ten years.
The blockade of grain in Ukraine was mentioned by the interior minister of Italy, Luciana Lamorgese, as yet another justification for the EU to create a “appropriate method of distributing migrants” among its members.
She also pushed for greater repatriation arrangements with nations whose citizens sought asylum in Europe but were turned down because they were fleeing poverty rather than war or persecution.
The UK is currently dealing with a migrant crisis as hundreds of people attempt to enter the country each month by traveling in small boats across the English Channel.
A total of 11,928 migrants have crossed the English Channel in 2022, nearly twice as many as the 5,906 who came over the same time period in 2021. On Thursday, 138 people braved the dangerous voyage in three boats.
The first group, consisting of between 45 and 50 passengers, was carried into Dover, Kent on board Border Force cutter Defender at before 8am, despite forecasts for heavy seas. There were a few ladies and kids among them.
Around 1:00 p.m., a second group of about 50 individuals was transported into the harbor on the Border Force vessel Ranger. After battling the cold at sea, they could be seen wrapped in blue blankets and sporting red hats.