Ashifa Qassam and Tariq El-Baraka, Associated Press, published on Saturday, June 25, 2022, 6:37 PM EDT
MADRID (AP) – The number of people killed after trying to cross the border fence between Morocco and a Spanish enclave in North Africa rose to 23 on Saturday as human rights organizations in Spain and Morocco called on both sides to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Moroccan authorities say the people died as a result of “overthrowing” of people who tried to climb the iron fence that separates the city of Melilla and Morocco on Friday. In a statement, Morocco’s interior ministry said 76 civilians were injured along with 140 Moroccan security officials.
The ministry initially reported five deaths. Local authorities, quoted by Moroccan official television 2M, updated the number to 18 on Saturday and then said the death toll had risen to 23. The Moroccan Human Rights Association reported 27 deaths, but the figure could not be confirmed immediately.
Two members of the Moroccan security forces and 33 migrants who were injured during the border violation were treated in hospitals in the Moroccan cities of Nador and Oujda, MAP reported.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday condemned what he described as a “violent attack” and an “attack on Spain’s territorial integrity”. Spanish authorities said 49 Civil Guardsmen received minor injuries.
“If there’s anyone responsible for everything that seems to have happened at this border, it’s the mafias that trade in people,” Sanchez said.
His remarks came when the Moroccan Human Rights Association shared videos on social media that appeared to show dozens of migrants lying on the ground, many immobile and several bleeding, as Moroccan security forces stood over them.
“They were left there without help for hours, which increased the number of deaths,” the human rights group said on Twitter. He called for a “comprehensive” investigation.
In another of the association’s videos, a Moroccan security official appears to be using a truncheon to strike a person lying on the ground.
In a statement issued late Friday, Amnesty International expressed its “deep concern” over the events at the border.
“Although migrants may have been forced to try to enter Melilla when it comes to border control, not everything is going well,” said Esteban Beltran, director of Amnesty International Spain. “The human rights of migrants and refugees must be respected and such situations cannot be repeated.
Five human rights organizations in Morocco and APDHA, a human rights group based in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, have also called for an investigation.
The International Organization for Migration and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also responded with a statement expressing “deep sadness and concern” about what happened on the border between Morocco and Melilla.
“IOM and UNHCR call on all authorities to prioritize the safety of migrants and refugees, to refrain from excessive use of force and to protect their human rights,” the organizations said.
In a statement issued Saturday, the Spanish Refugee Commission, CEAR, condemned what it described as “indiscriminate use of violence to manage migration and border control” and expressed concern that the violence had prevented people from meeting the conditions for international protection, to reach Spain. soil.
The Catholic Church in the southern Spanish city of Malaga has also expressed concern over the events. “Both Morocco and Spain have chosen to abolish human dignity on our borders, arguing that the arrival of migrants must be avoided at all costs and forgetting the lives that are torn along the way,” said a statement written by a diocesan delegation. , which focuses on migration to Malaga and Melilla.
A spokesman for the Spanish government’s Melilla office said about 2,000 people tried to cross the border but were stopped by the Spanish Civil Guard and Moroccan forces on both sides of the border fence. A total of 133 migrants have crossed the border.
The attempt at a mass crossing was the first since Spain and Morocco improved relations after a year-long dispute over Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1976. The thaw came after Spain backed Morocco’s plan to grant more autonomy. on the territory, repealing its previous support for a UN-backed referendum on the status of Western Sahara.
El-Baraka reports from Rabat.
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