Spain to build new fence around African enclave
MELILLA, Spain -- The government will build a third high-security fence between its Melilla enclave and Morocco, after undocumented immigrants repeatedly stormed two barriers, an Interior Ministry official said yesterday.
Speaking on Spanish national radio, an Interior Ministry official, Jose Fernandez Chacon, said that the new fence ''would be built with urgency." He said it was part of a plan in which troops were deployed last week, and in which efforts to deploy the other two barriers were speeded up.
Hundreds of poor people in northern Morocco have stormed the fences repeatedly in the past two weeks, in efforts to enter Europe. Five immigrants were killed in a charge last week at Ceuta, Spain's other enclave on the northern Moroccan coast.
Both city enclaves have twin 10-foot razor-wire fences.
Fernandez Chacon made his comments a day after 650 Africans ripped through a section of the Melilla barrier and clashed with police, in the latest and biggest rush on the Spanish enclave surrounded by Morocco.
About 135 immigrants were injured Monday, as were seven police officers. Some of the Africans threw rocks at police, the Interior Ministry said.
The surge on Monday occurred at a spot where the fence had been raised.
Last week, two groups, estimated at 500 men each, tried to cross the fences at their northern and southern tips. Construction has yet to begin in those areas. About 300 people got in.
After scaling a first fence topped with razor wire, the immigrants clambered up the second fence. The two are separated by a short strip of land. Police said the weight of so many men hanging on at once brought down two 60-feet strips of the upper half of the fence.
Pieces of ripped clothing were strewn across parts of the barrier that remained intact.
Those who made it across were detained and moved to an overflowing holding center.
Many of the Africans arriving in Melilla have trekked for more than two years, working their way north from some of the continent's poorest countries, to then spend months in the bush in Morocco while waiting to cross into Spain.
