At least 500 sub-Saharans have managed to enter the city in the largest avalanche in recent years
More than 2,000 sub-Saharan immigrants have tried this morning to jump the Melilla fence, in one of the biggest avalanches in recent years. As sources from the Civil Guard have explained, the massive jump began shortly before 9:30 a.m. this morning and occurred simultaneously at different points along the border perimeter.
At least 500 foreigners would have managed to enter the city, according to the first estimates of the Government Delegation. Most of the immigrants who have managed to overcome the fence are already at the gates of the Temporary Immigrant Stay Center (CETI).
Many of the non-EU citizens, according to eyewitnesses, have cuts and bruises caused by climbing to the perimeter, but also eye irritations, supposedly caused by the use of gases by the Moroccan forces, who on this occasion would have tried to stop the jump massive.
Practically all of the immigrants who have managed to reach national territory have done so in an interval of just 10 minutes (between 9:30 and 9:40 a.m.) in an assault that has had as its setting some of the weakest points of the perimeter located between the border crossings of Farhana and Barrio Chino, in an area known as ‘Villa Pilar’.
The Civil Guard, which has the help of the National Police and municipal agents, has practiced several ‘hot returns’ of immigrants who had been blocked in the fence. Some sources point out that up to 200 ‘without papers’ would have been deported expressly through the barbed wire gates.
The Government delegation has highlighted the violence used by sub-Saharans during the massive jump. The immigrants, who have used hooks, sticks and screws on their shoes, have thrown stones at the Moroccan forces to avoid being intercepted before reaching the fence.
In the containment of the jump, three civil guards have been injured, initially slightly, and three Sub-Saharans have been treated for minor injuries at the foot of the fence.