MELILLA, Spain (AP) — They perched atop a barbed-wire laced fence for more than seven hours, hands and feet bloodied, buffeted by chill winds whipping the cliffs of Africa’s Mediterranean coast.
The 27 sub-Saharan African migrants were literally on the edge between Africa’s economic misery and the long-dreamt riches of Europe: On one side of the fence was Morocco, on the other the Spanish enclave of Melilla.
[….]
The men are part of a spring migration offensive from Africa to Europe, with record numbers of desperate people risking death in their quest for a better life. They use perilous routes such as Mediterranean Sea crossings on rickety boats to the Italian island of Lampedusa or treks through desert, jungle and mountain that culminate in attempts to scale fences erected to keep them out of Melilla and Spain’s other North African enclave, Ceuta.
If they succeed and get into Spain, they will move northward to more desirable countries like Germany and the UK.
From the editor: For all of the new readers arriving at this post, please see our other recent ‘invasion of Europe’ posts by clicking here.
Hundreds broke into Europe through Morocco earlier today.
African men now on their way to mainland Europe. Photo Credit: Reuters/Jesus Blasco de Avellaneda
We’ve been reporting about the invasion of the Spanish territories on the coast of Morocco in recent weeks, here and here. The largest group yet of supposed asylum seekers scaled the barbed wire barriers while the world fixates on Russia’s brazen move on the Ukraine.
I would suggest that what is happening to countries on Europe’s borders—Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Spain and Malta— with the waves of largely Muslim men breaking into those countries, will have a more significant impact on the future of Europe than what Putin is doing at the moment, yet the politically-correct media just can’t (or won’t) see it.
(Reuters) – About 500 people forced their way into Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla on Tuesday, Spanish officials said, the largest number to storm the border in almost a decade as increasing naval patrols discourage entry by sea.
Spain has two enclaves in Morocco, Ceuta and Melilla, and migrants from all over Africa regularly try to reach them, mostly by climbing the triple barriers that separate them from Morocco. Deaths and injuries are common.
Making the most of dense fog to sneak up to the crossing and climb the high wire fence, a total of 1,100 people, according to Spanish figures, and about 600, according to Morocco, made a rush across the border throughout the night and morning.
[….]
“There’s been a mass rush (which was) unfortunately violent, which has become the norm.On the Moroccan side they threw stones, sticks and other objects at the security forces,” Melilla governor Melilla, Abdelmalik El Barkani, told reporters.
[….]
Thousands of migrants camp for months around Beni Chiguer, from where the attempts were made on Tuesday. The area is covered in shrubs, providing daytime cover for people who then attempt to cross by night.
Migrants enter the enclaves without official documents, often without belongings and wearing just flimsy shoes and shorts, and are housed in temporary centers until their identity can be determined or until they are moved.
Many end up in continental Spain and either stay there or travel throughout Europe.
Be sure to watch this Russian TV clip of the live action. Ironically, Russia is one of the few European countries that probably ‘gets-it’ about the migrant invasion.
***Update*** Connection? Spain/Morocco sending Jihadists to Syria, here.
Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish territory where Africans are storming the border fences.
We told you about thisalmost two weeks ago and posted a map at right. Spain has territory on the Moroccan coast and obviously Morocco is allowing tens of thousands of African migrants through its country in their attempt to break into the Spanish territory.
The New York Times has now joined the fray with a piece aimed at making Spain look bad (what else!). Hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers.’
MADRID — About 80,000 African migrants are heading for Spain’s two enclaves along the Moroccan coast, leaving Spain struggling to contain the efforts that are coming in larger and increasingly coordinated surges in recent days.
The Spanish interior minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz, said Thursday that the situation at the enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla, was a problem not only for Spain, but for all of Europe, and needed to be handled “in cooperation with the European Union.”
The government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has faced intensifying criticism — within Spain and from the union — over its defense of the enclaves.
As Mr. Fernández Díaz noted on Wednesday, the first day of his two-day visit to the enclaves, “There are 40,000 people in Morocco who are waiting to cross illegally into Spain, and 40,000 more at the border between Mauritania and Morocco.”
They are mostly economic migrants and only a small number will be able to claim asylum. If I were the EU, I’d be putting the screws to Morocco. Just as the good professor said of Canada recently—they are paralyzed by the toxin of multiculturalism.
