Spain.- The Beni Enzar border, the only one operational between Spain and Morocco in Melilla, remains closed, according to the Government Delegation in the autonomous city, which has asked citizens not to travel to the border perimeter so as not to hinder the work of the Security Forces and Corps.
Police sources have informed EFE that the attempts of irregular entry by migrants have occurred, in addition to the Beni Enzar border, through the old Barrio Chino border crossing, which has been inoperative since the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Precisely the Barrio Chino border was where the last attempt at a mass entry into Melilla took place on June 24, 2022, with the tragic jump over the fence in which at least 23 migrants died, according to official data from Morocco, which NGOs raised to even over a hundred.
The sirens and emergency lights of the Civil Guard patrol cars have returned to this area due to an attempted entry in which, as EFE has been able to observe, several migrants have managed to climb the fence of the old border post, whose turnstiles and other control elements were dismantled several months ago.
Shots have been fired to try to contain the attempted entry, marked by a heavy security deployment and a lot of noise amidst the detonations and the shouts of the migrants and the numerous police officers who were operating in the area.
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Another of the points where entry attempts have occurred has been the south breakwater, which acts as a land and sea border between Spain and Morocco in the southern area of the autonomous city and which had been closed to traffic this Thursday as a security measure.
There was also a significant security deployment along the breakwater and the promenade, involving Military Police vehicles, as well as the Civil Guard, the National Police, and the Local Police, who were primarily responsible for blocking road access to the areas where the entry attempts took place.
Numerous onlookers have approached the beach to see the migrants arriving by swimming, some of whom have run into the town center through the Hipódromo neighborhood, as witnessed by EFE.
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Beni Enzar Border
The first moments of tension have been experienced at the Beni-Enzar border, where an attempted rush entry reportedly took place and numerous shots were heard, some of them visible in the dark night sky due to the smoke.
Police sources have indicated to EFE that the State security forces have had to intervene to repel attempts of illegal entry across the Melilla border.
As EFE has been able to observe, Spanish police officers have escorted several groups of people from the border area, and the movement of police patrols has been constant, heading to the border crossing and also towards other points of the border, which has also been monitored from the air with drones and, previously, with helicopters.
Several ambulances have moved to the border, as have dozens of people who have followed the events with anticipation in the vicinity, where they have shared videos from the Moroccan side showing large groups running towards the border.
The Government delegate, Sabrina Moh, has traveled to the area.
For his part, the president of Melilla, Juan José Imbroda, has also traveled to some of the areas where the entry attempts have taken place and, as he estimated in statements to Cadena COPE, “about 300, 400 at most” would have managed to enter the city by land and sea.
