About 100 immigrants break the fence of the Spanish enclave of Melilla in North Africa

File photo.

This image taken on March 4, 2022 shows a view of the border fence separating Morocco (right) from the North African Spanish enclave of Melilla (left), near Nador in Morocco.

(Credit: FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNN) --

Some 100 migrants broke through security fences to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla on the border with Morocco on Friday, the press office of the main Spanish government representative in Melilla said.

The migrants who entered Spain were among some 1,000 migrants who gathered shortly after dawn on Friday to try to cross, but Moroccan security forces turned back some 600 of them, the press office said.

That left about 400 approaching the security fences, with about 100 entering Spain, the press office said.

In the past, migrants scaled the tall wire fences and sometimes used tools to get through them, but the press office did not immediately provide details on how the migrants entered on Friday.

The measure put them not only in Spain, but also in the territory of the European Union.

The migrants typically include sub-Saharan Africans who have made arduous journeys overland to reach the Melilla border, officials told CNN.

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Melilla, with a population of about 85,000 inhabitants, is one of the two Spanish enclaves on the north coast of Morocco.

Until June 15 of this year, 954 immigrants arrived in Melilla from Morocco, crossing the border fences, an increase of 485, or 103%, compared to the same period last year, reports the Ministry of the Interior of Spain.

Melilla