On June 24, around 1,700 people came, mostly from Sudanthey went to barrio chinosa border crossing that separates them Morocco from the Spanish exclave of Melilla. Hundreds of them tried to cross the barrier separating the two countries. However, this attempt was successful tragedy. According to official figures, at least 23 were killed and hundreds injured. More than 70 people are still missing, according to the Moroccan Human Rights Association. In a documentary released this week, the BBC returned to the scene of the tragedy and revealed that the responsibility it’s not just from Moroccan authoritiesbut also the Spanish ones.
The documentary tells the facts chronologically, with details that were already known and others that are entirely new. In some videos, the Moroccan gendarmerie can be seen driving towards the migrants Tear gas, smoke bombs and stones when trying to cross the border barrier. As they climb, the fence collapses due to the excessive weight, causing some migrants to fall. Those who manage to pass find themselves in a passage area dubbed “No Man’s Land” along with hundreds of people. The Moroccan gendarmerie continue to attack and hit them with the batons. “They treated us like Animals‘ he explained Monone of survivor. “He didn’t care if the blood came from his head, his mouth or his whole body.”
there bbc He also explained that in a video that has been verified but not released due to the crudeness of the images, bodies can be seen in agony, bleeding and other motionless bodies. According to the testimonies collected, the emergency services arrived hours after the incident. More than 400 migrants who managed to reach Spanish territory were immediately turned back. The Moroccan authorities helped push them back by beating them in front of the indifferent eyes of Spanish agents.
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The Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande MarlaskaAfter the tragedy, he described the Spanish state’s response as “proportionate” to the arrival of 1,700 people trying to cross the border. Corresponding Marlaska, the area where the migrants stayed and where most of the victims probably lost their lives to asphyxiation or suffered violence, was a “no man’s land”. However, the documentary contradicts his version and proves that part of the lifeless bodies were in a police-controlled area Spainas confirmed by the same agents of Civil Guard. According to the broadcaster, one of the videos shows the Moroccan gendarmerie dragging some of the bodies from the Spanish side to the Moroccan side. The interior minister has always denied any deaths on Spanish territory.
Despite the violence of the Moroccan gendarmerie, the assembly at the border crossing and the conditions in which the migrants found themselves, the Civil Guard Spanish didn’t intervene. On the contrary, the Spanish agents fired rubber bullets at the migrants who got off there Barrier of Melilla. In addition, explains the BBC, on the day of the tragedy the agents had the images of a filmed dronefrom a helicopter and cameras constantly aimed at the border fence, which transmit the images to huge screens in the control center Melilla. The same images can also be seen in the headquarters of the Civil Guard out Madrid. Likewise, officials confirmed to BBC reporters that they were alerted by sensors if anyone touched the barrier. This would show that the Spanish authorities knew what was happening on that June 24th.
Following the release of the documentary, the Home Secretary expressed his disappointment at the BBC for “making such serious allegations without producing any evidence”. Large factions, including ppciudadanos, Mas Pais and Bildu asked the government and a Marlaska Explanations of what was leaked in the documentation. Particularly, Jaume AsensSpeaker of the parliamentary group Unidas Podemos, he said in an interview that the interior minister was “not behaving like a progressive minister”. “The Massacre of Melilla It’s a shame, and the Home Office broke the law. Marlaska must correct and the PSOE must stop blocking with vox and ppthe investigation into the affair congress. We demand truth and justice,” he wrote on his Twitter profile.
Four months after the tragedy and after last week’s controversy, the minister announced that soon a group of MPs of the parliamentary commission would be shown the images and the recordings of the Guardia Civil of June 24th. However, many doubts remain on this day. The Moroccan Human Rights Association estimates that 77 people are missing, unknown since the day of the tragedy, and that the number of victims of one of the worst migration tragedies is still unknown.