• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Thursday, March 23, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Refugees

Spain Prosecutor Opens Probe Into Melilla Migrant Deaths

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
06/28/22
in Refugees, World
Spain migrants

A Sudanese migrant with an eye injury waits in a temporary center for migrants in the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Photo: Fadel Senna/AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Spanish public prosecutors said Tuesday they have opened an investigation into the deaths of at least 23 migrants during a mass attempt to cross into Spain’s Melilla enclave. 

The announcement came a few hours before the United Nations denounced what it called “excessive force” by authorities on the border between Morocco and Spain and demanded an investigation into the migrants’ deaths.

The tragedy occurred at dawn on Friday when around 2,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, tried to break through the fence from Morocco into the tiny Spanish enclave. 

Moroccan authorities said some had fallen while trying to scramble over the fence, giving an initial toll of 18 dead, but later raising it to 23 after another five migrants died of their injuries. 

They said 140 Moroccan police were wounded. 

There were very few details about the incident, but Spanish media showed images of many people lying on the ground, some with bloodied hands and torn clothes. 

The death toll is by far the worst recorded in years of attempts by migrants to cross into Melilla, one of Spain’s two North African enclaves which have the European Union’s only land borders with Africa, making them a magnet for migrants desperate to escape grinding poverty and hunger. 

In a statement, the Spanish prosecutors’ office said the decision was made by Attorney General Dolores Delgado in order “to clarify what happened at the Melilla border”, citing the “seriousness and gravity” of the incident and its impact on the individuals’ fundamental and human rights. 

“We saw the use of excessive force by the authorities, which needs to be investigated because it is unacceptable,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres‘s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters in New York.

Earlier on Tuesday, the United Nations’ rights office called for an independent investigation “as a first step towards establishing the circumstances of the deaths and injuries”, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said. 

While it remained unclear how the deaths had occurred, Shamdasani said the office had received reports of “migrants beaten with batons, kicked, shoved, and attacked with stones by Moroccan officials as they tried to scale the barbed-wire fence” which is between six and 10 meters high. 

The African Union has also called for an “immediate investigation,” with AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat expressing “deep shock and concern at the violent and degrading treatment of African migrants attempting to cross an international border from Morocco into Spain”.

In Morocco, prosecutors are moving to press charges against 65 migrants, mostly Sudanese, who took part in the storming of the border, a defense lawyer in Rabat said on Monday.

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

A woman stocks a bathroom with free pads and tampons
World

Spain Passes Law for Europe’s First ‘Menstrual Leave’

by Staff Writer
February 17, 2023
Samuel Luiz
World

Two More Suspects Arrested Over Killing of Gay Man in Spain

by Staff Writer
July 9, 2021
Catalan students hold a banner reading "For an education to serve the Catalan people".
Opinion

‘Enough Is Enough:’ Ideological Harassment in Catalan Universities

by Carlos Conde Solares
September 4, 2020
Carrie Lam press conference in Hong Kong
World

Hong Kong Reimposes Social Distancing as Global Cases Continue to Rise

by Alexandra Marquez
July 14, 2020
People wave pro-independence Catalan flags 'Esteladas' while holding letters reading 'independence' during a pro-independence demonstration in Barcelona, Spain
Featured

Spain’s New Government to Tackle Catalonia via Negotiation

by Staff Writer
January 13, 2020
Women hold Spanish, Catalan, and European flags during a demonstration against Catalonia's independence in front of the European Parliament building in Strasbourg
Opinion

Playing with Fire: EU Must Be Careful of Fanning Euroscepticism in Spain

by Ojel L. Rodriguez
January 7, 2020
Next Post
Mexico murdered journalists

Journalist Murdered in Mexico, 12th This Year

Google logo

Google to Pay $90 Mn in Settlement With App Developers

Recommended

Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 21, 2023
participants of an artificial intelligence conference

How AI Could Upend the World Even More Than Electricity or the Internet

March 19, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
Heavily armed police inspect the area near a Jehovah's Witness church where several people have been killed in a shooting in Hamburg, northern Germany

Eight Dead in Shooting at Jehovah’s Witness Hall in Germany

March 10, 2023
Myanmar Rohingya refugees look on in a refugee camp in Teknaf, in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, on November 26, 2016

US Announces $26M in New Aid for Rohingya

March 8, 2023
A flooded road in Batu Berendam in Malaysia's southern coastal state of Malacca

At Least Four Dead, Tens of Thousands Evacuated in Malaysia Floods

March 6, 2023

Opinion

Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 21, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Top view of the US House of Representatives

‘Cringy Awards:’ Who Is the Most Embarrassing US House Representative?

February 13, 2023
Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post