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Migrant Rights

ISA Demands Independent Investigation into Massacre in Melilla

24 June at least 37 migrants died trying to cross the border from Morocco to Spain. Many were crushed between six-foot high fences as Moroccan border guards used batons and tear gas against them. This has led to demonstrations of protest across the Spanish State.

Tuesday, 28 June 2022 08:54 (UTC)
John Hird
ISA in the Spanish State
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Terrible events on 24 June 2022 at the border between Nador and Melilla resulted in the death of at least 37 migrants and hundreds of injured people. Melilla is the Spanish enclave in Morocco, and one of only two land borders between Africa and Europe. The actions of the police forces, which led to a massacre, have been exposed by the images disseminated on social networks and in the media. These deaths are the responsibility of the policies of the European Union, put into practice by the Spanish and Moroccan states.

ISA supports calls made by human rights organisations for the immediate launching of an independent judicial investigation by both Morocco and Spain, as well as at the international level, to shed light on this tragedy. An independent investigation must include representatives of the migrants, trade unions, and NGOs.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, disgracefully praised the ‘cooperation’ of the Moroccan Gendarmerie and Guardia Civil in stopping the numerous attempts to break through the Melilla fence. Sánchez’s initial response was to describe what happened as a “well resolved” operation. This cold-heartedness in addition to being a disgrace, also totally ignores the brutality of the Spanish and Moroccan forces and is an attempt at a cover up to protect the new agreement between Spain and Morocco.

The responsibility for these events does not lie with the migrants trying to flee wars or terrible famines, but with the EU policies of closing borders, which leave them with no other option than to jump the fence. Part of the official narrative is to justify what happened in the alleged violence of migrants, which does not correspond to reality, neither in this case nor on other occasions.

EU governments are totally hypocritical, as they outsource border control to governments such as Morocco through shabby agreements. It is also hypocritical to treat African people in a way that is so different from the treatment given to those who have had to leave Ukraine. These are racist double standards and surviving migrants on the Spanish side of the border are protesting on this issue.

The Moroccan government has moved quickly to cover up the massacre. In a macabre move at the weekend, they ordered workers to dig open graves. The Moroccan Association of Human Rights (ADHM) has said that no autopsies have been carried out nor have those who died during the attempt to jump the fence been identified.

On the Spanish side, there were106 minor injuries, 49 Guardia Civil officers and 57 migrants, three of whom had to be transferred to the Regional Hospital. A thousand migrants were detained during the Moroccan operation,

According to the information available, the victims were crushed and suffocated by the crowd after being trapped in a gap in front of the fence, on the Moroccan side, where a large human mass formed between the people who were still arriving and those who were falling from the fence.

The ADHM published a video showing dozens of people lying on the ground, piled on top of each other, some injured, near the fence and guarded and hit by Moroccan agents.

This attempt has been marked by widespread police violence, especially on the Moroccan side, where there had been pitched battles in the mountains near Melilla during the previous days, and also near the border perimeter fence on Friday morning.

The horrendous events in Melilla and the callous attitude of Sánchez is causing more tensions in the PSOE-UP coalition. UP are asking for clarifications and investigations into what really happened. A UP minister was prevented from speaking at a government press conference when asked direct questions on what happened in Melilla.

There have been numerous demonstrations in the Spanish state. People held banners with slogans such as “Papers for everyone”, “Punish the murderers of immigrants”, “Black lives matter”, “No one is illegal”, “Morocco and Spain: murderous gendarmes of fortress Europe” and “Regularisation now”.

The organisers of the protests throughout Spain correctly denounce the current migration policies as “kill“ policies and for this reason have launched more protests against the massacre in Melilla with the slogan ”no more deaths at the borders”.

We reject the racist and xenophobic policies of the EU, implemented by the Spanish state. Policies which punish sub-saharan people for the ‘crime’ of being poor and black. Justice for the victims in Melilla! Instead of these inhuman conditions, violence and injustice we advocate internationalism and socialism in all countries.

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ISA Demands Independent Investigation into Massacre in Melilla (28 Jun 2022)

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