Moroccan border bust repulsed

2008-06-22 21:28

Madrid - About 70 African would-be immigrants to Europe tried on Sunday to storm through a border post of the Spanish enclave of Melilla in Morocco, but most of them were repulsed, said authorities.

The local Melilla authorities said: "Between 60 and 70 people from sub-Saharan Africa tried to force their way into Melilla at dawn through the Beni-Enzar border post.

"Most of them were pushed back by security forces," they said, adding that "the situation is normal on the border".

But, several border guards were injuries, said authorities.

Spanish national radio said many among the illegal border crossers were armed with sticks and threw stones at the men manning the frontier.

It was the first major attack on Melilla by Africans seeking to migrate to Europe since July 2006, when one of them was killed in the attempt.

14 killed in 2005 border bid

A Moroccan interior ministry statement put the number of people involved at 58 and confirmed that they had tried to force their way through the border post on Saturday morning.

"Due to the vigilance of those at the post, this attempt was prevented," added the statement.

In 2005, 14 would-be immigrants were killed, some of them by bullets fired by Spanish or Moroccan forces, as they tried to climb over the fences around Melilla and also Ceuta, the other Spanish enclave in north Africa.

This comes amid reports of a rising flow of illegal African immigrants to Spain, especially through Spain's Canary islands off the west African coast.

Spain's El Pais newspaper said on Sunday that the number of illegals arriving in the Canaries would soon swell further as the western African nation of Mauritania recently lifted a ban on fishing.

The fishing boats are used by clandestine immigrants to travel to the Canary Islands.

- SAPA