Five dead and dozens injured in storming Spanish exclave of Melilla

At least five migrants were killed on Friday trying to reach the Spanish exclave of Melilla. This has been announced by the Moroccan authorities of the nearby city of Nador. Nearly 80 other migrants and about 140 police and security personnel were injured, authorities said. During a two-hour violent confrontation between the more than 2,000 migrants and police and security personnel, the migrants were injured to the point of death.

In the end, 133 migrants managed to reach Melilla. According to the Spanish migration service CETI, most of them have Sudanese nationality. The most migrants have arrived in one day in Melilla since last March, which, like the more western exclave of Ceuta, is a popular route, especially for migrants from the African continent to reach the European Union. They can thus reach the EU territory without risking the dangerous crossing over the Mediterranean Sea.

Last year, Morocco had opened borders in Ceuta and Melilla to put diplomatic pressure on Spain in a conflict over the status of Western Sahara. Then groups of migrants regularly stormed the high fences of both exclaves. Earlier this year, diplomatic relations between Spain and Morocco normalized, after which the Moroccan Border Police restored control of the borders.