Dozens of Moroccans risk life while crossing Spain's Melilla enclave

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
1 Jan 2023 22:41

The border police monitor the enclave to prevent migrants from crossing illegally.

Moroccans cross into Spain's Melilla enclave: Rights group

The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) said on Sunday that a group of Moroccans attempted to cross the Melilla enclave last night and that several managed to get into Spanish territory despite police deployment there.

"Dozens of young Moroccans attempted to cross" into Melilla from the border town of Nador on New Year's Eve, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) said on Twitter.

محاولة عبور الى مليلية ليلة رأس السنة.
Nouvelle tentative la nuit du nouvel an à la barrière de Melilla. Des dizaines de jeunes marocains ont tenté de traverser. Malgré le dispositif policier mis en place, quelques uns ont réussi de traverser. pic.twitter.com/OTvQOevAEe
— AMDH Nador (@NadorAmdh) January 1, 2023

Spanish and Moroccan authorities still did not confirm the event.

The Melilla and Ceuta enclaves are some of the most frequently used crossings that Africans take to escape poverty.

The border police monitor the enclaves to prevent migrants from crossing illegally.

On June 28, a rights group reported that a massacre that brutally killed 23 mostly-African refugees coming from Chad, Niger, South Sudan, and Sudan took place at the Melilla crossing.

About 2,000 migrants, mostly Sudanese, were attempting to cross the border.

Over 150 were injured in the systemic violence, which included charges and beatings by security forces coming from both the Spanish and the Moroccan sides.

The event was dubbed the worst death toll in years of attempted crossing.

Morocco began to initiate a series of trials against migrants who have tried to "illegally enter" into the Melilla enclave, but the trial was put to a stop immediately, according to lawyers.

The defendants that were brought to court faced charges of "illegal entry into Moroccan territory," violence against security forces, forming an "armed mob" and "refusal to comply" with orders.

Although both governments placed the blame on migrants, Amnesty International found that Spanish and Moroccan authorities had used excessive force during the incident.

However, Spain's public prosecutor said Spanish security forces had done nothing wrong.