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ARCHIVED - Spanish police accused of brutality in Melilla after video shows them pepper-spraying an unarmed boy
The government has defended police officers, saying they used “proportionate” force against violent attackers
by Tom Beck
Spain’s Interior Minister has defended Spanish police who were filmed beating and pepper-spraying an unidentified young sub-Saharan African man or teenager as he climbed over the border fence in Melilla during a mass crossing of illegal migrants last week.
While some of the migrants who crossed from Morocco to the Spanish enclave in northern Africa were accused of violence, the young man in the video was unarmed and not being aggressive.
Nonetheless, a group of at least five police officers sprayed the young man with pepper spray and beat him with batons as he was climbing down the fence onto Spanish soil and when he reached the ground.
But speaking on a visit to Melilla on Saturday, Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, insisted that the officers’ use of force was “proportionate”.
What should we make of Europe's schizophrenic refugee response? In the week we welcomed 1.2m refugees from Ukraine do we really need to watch this young man being battered for climbing an EU border fence? Yes 🧵 pic.twitter.com/kNuOVD8lL4
— Daniel Howden (@daniel_howden) March 5, 2022
They also highlighted “the level of aggression” against police displayed by some of those trying to cross into Melilla, adding that about 60 Guardia Civil and Policía Nacional officers, and almost as many 52 migrants, were injured on Wednesday and Thursday.
The incident took place even as Spain was mobilising to take in refugees from the conflict in Ukraine, and some observers have criticised the Spanish government for its two-faced approach to migrants trying to enter the EU.
Spain’s public ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, has asked the government for more information on “what would appear to be a disproportionate use of force by the officers”.
“Border control should be undertaken with respect for the guarantees and fundamental rights of everyone, whether they are agents of authority or people trying to enter national territory,” he said.
For his part, Interior Minister Grande-Marlaska stated, “A democratic state with the rule of law cannot allow its borders – which in this case are EU borders – to be violently attacked.”
Image: @daniel_howden/Twitter
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