Rabat – Spain’s Minister of Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska noted that cooperation with Morocco on migration matters is “perfect,” highlighting the recent collaboration between the countries’ security bodies to stop migration attempts in Melilla.
Grande-Marlaska denounced the March 2-3 assaults on Melilla borders, describing them in a press conference as “exceptional,” and “unusual violent attacks.”
The Spanish minister recalled that the irregular migrants used hooks, nails on shoes, and sticks. The “significant violence” of irregular migrants caused the injury of 20 Spanish Civil Guard officers and 20 irregular migrants.
Additionally, Grande-Marlaska reported that a third similar attempt took place on March 4. Moroccan Gendarmeries and Spanish national police worked jointly to counter thousands of migrants attempting to cross the Melilla border. With the support of Spain’s national and local police, the authorities divided into five groups of 200 officers to limit irregular crossing into the Spanish enclaves on the African continent.
The joint operation reflects the “cooperation and coordination in border control” between Morocco and Spain, noted the minister. He stressed that the communication between the two countries is continuous to fight against “human trafficking” and “ensure the integrity of borders.”
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“In a democratic state, we cannot allow the borders to be violently attacked, without the forces and the state security corps being violently attacked. This has nothing to do with solidarity with vulnerable groups and people who want a new life, but in a peaceful way,” he added.
Grande-Marlaska praised bilateral cooperation between his country and Morocco on security issues such as migration. Yet his stand is not shared by the right-wing party Vox.
Following the March 2-3 attempts, Vox Melilla criticized the central government’s approach of Morocco as “a friendly country with which we maintain close ties of fraternal collaboration.”
Vox considered the state discourse to be “dangerous” for allegedly placing Melilla’s residents “in a vulnerable situation in front of a neighbor who does not respect us because we do not make ourselves respected.”
On March 3, Vox’s President Santiago Abascal stressed, in a Congress session, that Europe must “defend” its borders against Muslim refugee “invasions.”
As Abascal welcomed Ukrainian refugees, he noted the difference between them and “the invasions of young men of military age of Muslim origin that have launched against different borders of Europe in an attempt to destabilize and to colonize it.”
Yearly, thousands of Moroccans and sub-Saharan irregular migrants cross into the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla by land and sea, looking for better living conditions in the “dreamland.”
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