150 migrants storm border with Spain's Melilla enclave

MADRID: Around 150 migrants stormed the border fence separating the Spanish enclave Melilla from Morocco early on Tuesday with nearly 90 managing to cross, officials said.

The incident took place just before dawn where the fence crosses the Nano river, a spokesman for the Spanish government's local delegation said, indicating "87 of them" got across despite efforts to stop them by the Moroccan and Spanish security forces.

It was the biggest mass attempt to cross the border fence since August 20 when some 300 people stormed the fence, although only around 30 managed to get across and one died during the attempt.

During Tuesday's incident, nine migrants were hurt while trying to get into the tiny Spanish territory, while the rest were being registered at the migrant reception centre, he said.

Interior ministry figures show that in the first two weeks of the year, 60 migrants managed to illegally cross the fence into Melilla while another 70 managed to cross into Ceuta, Spain's other North African enclave.

Melilla and Ceuta, another Spanish territory in North Africa, have the European Union's only land borders with Africa.

They are favoured entry points for African migrants seeking a better life in Europe, who get there by either climbing over the border fence or by swimming along the coast.

The border crossings between Morocco and both enclaves have been closed since the start of the pandemic last March.