ARCHIVED - 18 migrants climb over border fence into Melilla as large group storms the structure
The Spanish overseas enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are frequently chosen by migrants as a gateway into Europe, and mass assaults attempting to cross the border fence are quite a regular occurrence.
This was, in fact, the third so far this year.
Eighteen sub-Saharan Africans managed to get over the heavily monitored, barbed-wire border fence between Morocco and the Spanish autonomous city of Melilla on Tuesday evening (30 March), the local government delegation has reported.
A group of around 100 migrants stormed the border in the Beni-Enzar area at about 9.40 pm, Moroccan sources said, but the police managed to stop most of them from reaching and climbing over the fence.
Those who did manage to get over were visibly injured with cuts from the wires and limping, according to witnesses.
Earlier this month a group of around 150 migrants also stormed the border and 59 of them managed to get over the double fence and into Melilla. Three Guardia Civil officers and two of the migrants were injured during the event, and all 59 migrants were tested for coronavirus and quarantined at a government-run centre.
Meanwhile, on Saturday night (27 March) nine Africans were caught trying to swim the one-kilometre stretch between Moroccan shores and the Spanish city of Melilla.