Morocco/Spain: Update: Six migrants die in Melilla
01 October 2005
On 6 October 2005, the Moroccan interior ministry announced six more sub-Saharan migrants died in a mass attempt to climb the border fence in Melilla and to enter Spain, adding that some had died of bullet wounds while others had been crushed by fellow migrants. The Moroccan interior minister said that "due to the unusual strength of the immigrants, who were possessed by the strength of their despair, the [Moroccan] police legitimately defended its surveillance posts in front of the fence and six illegal immigrants have died". Ceuta, the other Spanish enclave in northern Morocco, had been the scene of a similar incident in which five migrants died, some of them shot, on 28 September 2005 (El País, 6.10.2005). Previous Statewatch coverage:
Spain/Morocco: Migrants shot dead at the border fence, Spain deploys army