Migrants had never attempted such a forced passage, so massive and so violent. It is with sticks, iron bars, backpacks filled with stones that they launch Friday, June 24 against the metal barriers of the border from the Spanish enclave of Melilla, six meters high in places. They succeed in forcing access from border control. Moroccan security forces retaliate: tear gas, rubber bullets, truncheons. Migrants, mostly Sudanese, die of suffocation or trampling.
On Sunday June 26, Spaniards demonstrated across the country as a sign of solidarity.
Rally in Madrid to denounce the massacre of Melilla and the racist “progressive government” ⤵️ https://t.co/Dgl9Xnpxl3
— Paul Morao (@morao_pablo) June 26, 2022
The head of the African Union Commission, the Chadian Moussa Faki Mahamat, denounces “violent and degrading treatment of African migrants” and calls for an investigation. Same request in Morocco from human rights associations, which call for the opening of an investigation “serious and transparent” to determine responsibilities and breaches.
If the authorities estimate the number of dead at 23, NGOs such as Caminando Fronteras speak of 37 deaths. Others, like AMDH Nador, warn against any attempt to order the rapid burial of sub-Saharan and Sudanese migrants: the Moroccan authorities have indeed already begun to prepare several graves in the cemetery of Sidi Salem, on the outskirts of the city. of Nador, even though not all the bodies have been identified or autopsied.
16 graves in total dug so far to bury dead migrants. Will the authorities bury them at night or wait until tomorrow? pic.twitter.com/qzmUgTMmf4
— AMDH Nador (@NadorAmdh) June 26, 2022
Ceuta (20 square kilometers) and Melilla (12 square kilometers), two Spanish confetti located in the extreme geographical north of Morocco, have been claimed since 1956 by Morocco. From 1998, to prevent illegal immigration, Spain began to build barriers there, partially funded by the European Union, consisting of parallel fences topped by barbed wire and regularly reinforced over time.
This is not the first time that migrants have attempted a collective incursion. Already at the beginning of March there had already been several attempts, including the largest ever recorded at this crossing point: some 500 migrants had managed to cross out of a total of 2,500. In 2021, on the night of May 16 to 17, 8 000 to 9,000 migrants (including at least 2,000 unaccompanied minors) crossed by swimming or on foot the border between Morocco and Ceuta. There had been at least two deaths.
Why such an onslaught now? Because for several weeks, the Moroccan police have been regularly combing and destroying the camps of illegal immigrants who survive in the Gourougou forest, just opposite the border with Melilla, this 12 km2 piece of Spain located in Moroccan territory, antechamber of the ‘European Union. Intimidation, pressure, arrests ended up creating, according to NGOs, a highly inflammable context, which pushed migrants to try everything for everything.
And if the Moroccan authorities are zealous, it is because Rabat and Madrid reconciled in mid-March after a year of diplomatic estrangement. Morocco and Spain have reopened their borders and resumed cooperation on illegal migration.
The head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sanchez, also praised the work of the Moroccan gendarmerie this weekend by denouncing the “mafias” who engage in human smuggling. This tragedy is the symbol of the policy of externalization of borders. For Amnesty International, human traffickers and smugglers are always singled out, but it is First of all, the Union, which is responsible for subcontracting its protection to Morocco, does not allow these migrants, who come mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, and in particular from Darfur, where a new outbreak of violence has recently caused hundreds of dead and 50,000 displaced assert their rights, but according to the NGO they can claim refugee status and should benefit from international protection.