Spain: 492 Immigrants Jump the Fence in North African Enclave Melilla

Melilla registered its largest number of immigrants entering since 2005 on Tuesday, when 492 people from the Sub-Saharan region jumped over the double fence shortly after 08:00 local time (07:00 GMT).

Many of them sustained injuries. Between 50-100 people have cuts of varying degrees, so that the Red Cross had to set up a field hospital. The Spanish authorities used rubber bullets, but stress that nobody was injured by them.

The people who made it across the fence have gone to a temporary immigration centre. The two Spanish enclaves Melilla and Ceuta have Europe’s only land borders with Africa.

[Editor’s Note: We recommend all our readers view the video for this story, which unfortunately cannot be embedded.]