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Migrants in Melilla
Photo: Antonio Ruiz / dpa
According to media reports, hundreds of migrants stormed the border fence between Morocco and the Spanish North African exclave of Melilla.
The Europa Press news agency reported that they had broken open one of the gates in the border facility, citing the police.
A “considerable number” managed to penetrate the exclave in northern Morocco, the Spanish authorities said.
Video images on the Internet showed how mostly young men ran through the streets.
Some were injured when they stormed the border facility, which consists of two parallel, six-meter-high barbed wire fences.
A spokesman for the Spanish authorities in Melilla said there were around 400 people in total.
Many were stopped by police and security forces on the Moroccan side.
Those who made it into the exclave would now be checked on the spot at a migration center.
According to Spanish media reports, 116 Moroccan officials were injured the day before when they tried to keep around 500 migrants away from the border facility.
A police officer had to be treated in the intensive care unit of a hospital.
Morocco became independent from France and Spain in 1956.
Nevertheless, Spain continues to hold two exclaves there: Melilla and Ceuta, 250 kilometers further west on the Strait of Gibraltar.
Both are claimed by Rabat.
The Spanish government made a diplomatic change of course in March after a long dispute over Morocco's control of Western Sahara.
Madrid recognized the Moroccan autonomy plan for the disputed area, which envisages, among other things, offering Western Sahara autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.
Since then, ferry connections between Spain and Morocco have been resumed and police cooperation programs have been launched in the Spanish exclaves, among other places.
In the vicinity of the two areas, often tens of thousands of Africans, mainly from sub-Saharan countries, are waiting for a chance to enter the EU.
Usually several hundred people try to surprise the border officials and get across the border.
According to Spanish sources, more than 3,500 people tried to climb the border fence in March.
Around a thousand had been successful, it said.
muk/dpa/AP/AFP
