Morocco repels 1,000 migrants storming Spanish border

Moroccan security forces have foiled an attempt by about 1,000 migrants to illegally enter Spain’s North African territory of Melilla.

At Tuesday night, “a very large group of about a thousand sub-Saharan immigrants” stormed the border fence and were “held back and dispersed by the Moroccan forces”, the Spanish government delegation in Melilla said in a statement on Wednesday.

A video captured by night-vision security cameras shows a long queue of the migrants rushing the fence from the nearby hills where they were camped.

After the crowd was repelled, it moved towards a nearby border crossing but then withdrew without trying to cross again, the statement said.

Spanish officials say thousands of migrants have struggled to reach Spain from Morocco this year by climbing the six-meter border fences or crossing the Mediterranean in flimsy boats.

Melilla along with Ceuta, another Spanish territory neighboring northern Morocco, forms the only land borders of the European Union with Africa. Each of the two towns has a population of about 80,000.

“This latest foiled attempt shows yet again the extreme migratory pressure on this town and the necessity to reinforce anti-intrusion measures,” said the statement by Melilla authorities.

Human rights activists say the migrants are brought to Morocco from other African countries by smugglers and live in deplorable conditions while waiting for a chance to go to the other side of the border.

However, African migrants’ living condition in European countries is not desirable. In recent years, this has led to numerous demonstrations staged by migrant workers in European capitals to protest against their hardships.