Some 700 Africans tried to enter Spain's North African enclave at Ceuta on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. It is the second attempt to enter Spain's boarder at Ceuta since at least 15 Africans drowned while trying to swim to the enclave in early February.
A Ceuta Interior Ministry spokesman told the AP the migrants tried twice to enter the enclave on Tuesday morning. The Moroccan Interior ministry told the AP that all of the migrants were turned away.
Tuesday's attempt comes a week after over 200 African migrants stormed Spain's other Moroccan enclave at Melilla. Migrants threw rocks and sticks at Moroccan forces as they climbed the barbed-wire fence, the BBC reported. Nearly a dozen officers were injured and 14 migrants were sent to the hospital, the AP reported.
Unlike the Ceuta ambush, about 100 migrants made it across the border at Melilla. The migrants will stay at temporary housing facilities until officials send them back home.
On Feb. 6, several hundred African migrants tried to enter the boarder at Ceuta. The migrants tried to climb the fence, but attempted to swim pass the boarder after they were blocked by Spanish authorities, according to Reuters. At least 15 drowned.
Another attempt to cross the Melilla boarder two weeks ago involved 200 migrants. At least 50 made it across the fence.
Nearly 25,000 African migrants are currently living illegally in Morocco, the AP reported. Each year they flock to Spain's Ceuta and Melilla enclaves with the hopes of passing the boarder to make it into Europe. The Africans, from countries like Cameroon and Guinea, want to enter Europe to seek employment or asylum, according to the BBC.
"The unstable situation that created the Arab Spring, the huge amount of people displaced by violent conflict and the tragedy of Syria has added to traditional sub-Saharan migration," Jorge Fernandez Diaz, the Spanish Interior Minister, told Reuters.
Close to 6,000 migrants made it into Spain illegally in 2012, while 3,000 more made it into Spain in 2013, Reuters reported.
