Brussels, 26/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Spanish home affairs minister announced on Tuesday 25 February that the Civil Guard had been instructed not to fire rubber bullets to repulse attempts by immigrants to enter the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, AFP reports. This decision comes after an assault by Spanish police at the start of February left 14 people dead. This event led Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom to ask Madrid for explanations.
In Ceuta, an attempt at forced entry by several hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants on 6 February resulted in the deaths of 14 people, drowned as they tried to reach Spanish soil by the coast from Morocco. In autumn 2013, there was a storm of controversy when the government reinstalled barbed wire fencing at several points along the border between Morocco and the enclave of Melilla.
Several hundred sub-Saharan immigrants have tried to cross the border into Melilla over recent days. On 17 February, around 150 people managed to break through onto Spanish territory, followed by some 100 others on 24 February. The latest of these assaults was described by the Spanish authorities as “very violent”, AFP says, and left scores of people lightly wounded. (SP)