Four people died and dozens were injured when hundreds of would-be immigrants tried to storm a border-crossing between Morocco and Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta early on Thursday, as the countries’ prime ministers held a summit on illegal immigration.
After another night of violence, two would-be immigrants were reported dead on the Spanish side of the border and another two bodies were recovered by the Moroccan police, officials on both sides said on Friday.
The latest incident added to the death toll at border-crossings between Morocco and Spain’s two enclaves in the region — Ceuta and Melilla — which are seen as an access point to Europe for the mainly sub-Saharan Africans who are gathered in camps around the Spanish territories.
Previous attempts to scale the fortified fences with makeshift wooden ladders have led to deadly clashes between the would-be immigrants and Spanish and Moroccan border guards.
On Monday and Tuesday nights, about 1 000 would-be immigrants launched separate assaults on the border-crossing at Melilla, where two have died in previous attempts to scale the fence.
On Friday, Moroccan security officials said that two dead had been taken to a hospital in Tetouan in the north of the country after being shot with rubber bullets fired from the Spanish side.
The Spanish governor Ceuta, Jeronimo Nieto Gonzales, told Spain’s radio Cadena Ser that two more people had died on Spanish territory from ”injuries [sustained] during the crossing of the barrier or by crushing due to the human avalanche that occurred”.
Local Spanish officials confirmed that two people had died and 28 had been injured to varying degrees. A hospital source on the Moroccan side said a further 15 injured immigrants had been admitted, with one in a serious condition after being hit by a rubber bullet.
Meanwhile, in the southern Spanish city of Seville, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero met his Moroccan counterpart Driss Jettou for talks on illegal immigration, with the overnight violence expected to be high on the agenda.
Spanish Defence Minister Jose Bono told reporters on Friday that Spain would send more soldiers to bolster forces in Ceuta and Melilla.
This initiative follows previous attempts to improve the security situation and joint efforts by Morocco and Spain to clampdown on illegal immigration.
Spain decided earlier this month to double the height of the fence around Melilla from three to six meters and Spain’s junior immigration minister, Consuelo Rumi, has praised Moroccan efforts that have led to a sharp reduction in makeshift vessels intercepted off the Spanish coast. – AFP
