2022 Melilla incident

On June 24, 2022, at least 37 migrants were killed at the Melilla border fence during an issue with Moroccan and Spanish security forces. Issues broke out as between 500 and 2,000 people gathered in the early hours of the day to cross the border with Spain.

## Incident 
The incident happened in the morning when around 2,000 migrants crossing from Morocco tried to attack and break through the Melilla border fence. Security forces from both nations managed to stop the crowd. But they resulted in violent fighting with the migrants lasting for two hours. Spanish and Moroccan officials said that  migrants  had assaulted their border guards with weapons  and they had to fight back in self-defense. According to authorities, fleeing migrants trampled over each other causing a human stampede and killing several people. Several other migrants fell from the fence onto the ground. At least 18 migrants were killed, five of them died during the crossing attempt and thirteen of them died from their injuries in the hospital. Morocco said that at least 63 other migrants had injuries and that 140 Moroccan officers had been hurt, five seriously, An NGO called Walking Borders estimated at least 37 killed.

Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez said that the incident was a "well-organized, violent assault" by organized crime groups and thanked Spanish and Moroccan security forces for their actions.

Among the detainees held in custody in Nador, a group of 32 people with the most serious offences were charged by the Moroccan public prosecutor's office. They were charged with "organizing and facilitating the clandestine entry and exit of people to and from Morocco on a regular basis", kidnapping and retention of a civil servant to use them as a hostage, setting a fire in the forest, and insults and violence against Moroccan law enforcement agents. Several of the actions condemned by human rights organizations have also occurred in Spanish jurisdiction and not only in Morocco, as initially pointed out. The Spanish Civil Guard denied in statements to France Presse that it knew anything about this matter. According to Moroccan police sources, it was an action measured "by the use of very violent methods" by migrants and that they died "only by the avalanche of people" while crossing it.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune publicly accused Morocco of having committed "a carnage" in Melilla. President-elect of Colombia Gustavo Petro expressed his solidarity with the families of the "massacred victims". He also reaffirmed his commitment "to all African peoples fighting hunger and for life." Due to media pressure, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs convened an emergency meeting with representatives of African states to justify the actions alleging the violence by migrants when crossing the prison. In the case of the European Commission, its spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs and Security, Nabila Massrali, postulated that the European authorities had contacted the Moroccans to try to understand the event, but avoided demanding any report or research commission.

10 NGOs requested the identification and return of the remains to their families instead of a swift burial in the Sidi Salem cemetery near Nador.

On June 27, the African Union Commission called for an investigation into the Melilla tragedy.

## References