Spanish enclave Melilla stormed by immigrants
In two separate stormings, over a thousand Sub-Saharan immigrants stormed the wall that surrounds the Spanish enclave Mellilla in northern Africa on Tuesday (27 september).
Three hundred immigrants made it into European territory, and perplexed Spanish authorities are now rushing to heighten the wall.
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Perplexed Spanish authorities are now rushing to heighten the wall (Photo: EUobserver)
It is the biggest and most dramatic event of this type ever to have occurred in the enclave, a tiny territory in the North of Morroco, the Spanish press reports.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, mostly Sub-Saharan immigrants equipped with handmade ladders, stormed two opposite points of the four kilometre long wall of the enclave.
15 hours later, another another storming took place.
The Spanish government announced earlier that it plans to heighten the wall to over six metres, from its current three metres.
Only a day before the stormings, the government said that the work would start immediately.
Melilla is often referred to as the EU’s most southern town.
For immigrants who manage to enter the EU territory, entirely encircled by Morocco, chances of being transferred to the European continent are good, as the detention centre in Melilla itself is overcrowded.
The Melilla detention centre, CETI, has room for 400 immigrants, but is now hosting more than a thousand including those without papers.
