50 immigrants breach Spain's African frontier

 

Around 50 Sub-Saharan immigrants forced their way into the Spanish enclave of Melilla on Monday after what has been reported to be a coordinated attack on the frontier separating the city from Morocco.

Five different assaults on the six-meter high frontier wire took place at the same time in the early hours of Monday morning with around 50 people, the majority thought to have originally come from Mali, breaching the double layer of wire before entering the city, where they made their way to the Temporary Immigrant Refuge Center (CETI), according to local media reports.

The immigrants were able to scale the wire, which had been put in place over the summer, thanks to the use of homemade grappling hooks, similar to those used in a mass assault on the frontier involving more than 300 immigrants last Wednesday.

Monday morning also saw a dingy carrying six would-be immigrants intercepted in the Straits of Gibraltar. The dinghy, which was trying to take advantage of the calm weather was destined either for the region close to Cadiz in south Spain or Melilla and the passengers were rescued by a Moroccan patrol boat.

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