USA is not the only one with Border problems, Spain is got hands full with Moroccans
Moroccans don’t have a good reputation in Europe. They are seen as lazy and untrustworthy.
The work that Moroccans due can be compared to the work of immigrants here. But unlike immigrants that work hard at what ever work they can get here Moroccans don’t have
that reputation. Instead they will clean your house totally, if you know what I mean.
The video and pics you are about to see is my way to compare Spain’s predicament with ours and the states with borders in the US. Spain does have a compassionate law for immigrants that once they hit spaniard’s
soil they cannot be just deported. They are given free lawyers and an expensive waiting period of
litigations and appeals before they can be deported. Spain not doing great economically lately, see
these influx of undocumented men jumping the border as a thread to their economic security.
On the video and pic you will see the Moroccans climbing and the police trying to get them down.
Spain is being criticized for using force to get them down but I don’t know what they can use out of guns which is out of the question there to get these men to change their minds. Pleading obviously has not worked. This issue is so contentious that even the reporter who wrote the original post covered up his picture afraid from reprisals. Giving you this background now I give you the story. Adam Gonzalez
A video has emerged showing police beating up African migrants at the Spanish border. About 200 African migrants who were trying to get into Melilla - a Spanish enclave in northwest Morocco - were reportedly beaten up by Spain’s Guardia Civil (police) on October 15.
Nearly all of them were then illegally sent back to Morocco.
The immigrants, who hail from Sub-Saharan Africa, had tried to get past the triple fence separating Morocco from the Spanish enclave at about 6 am. Two men were beaten particularly badly by the Spanish Guardia Civil, including one named Danny, aged 23, from Cameroon. On a video broadcast by Prodein, a children’s rights NGO, policemen can be seen beating the young man with their batons as he climbs down a ladder. After being beaten over the head, Danny falls to the ground. He is then dragged off by the police, apparently unconscious.
“The images could not be clearer or more appalling,” said Judith Sunderland, senior Western Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch, after viewing the film.
CONTRIBUTORS
"When migrants are injured but conscious, they're sent directly back to Morocco"
Robert Bonet is a freelance photographer. He witnessed the police’s brutal treatment of the migrants last Wednesday.
To justify this use of force, Melilla’s authorities issued a statement denouncing the migrants’ “extreme violence”, saying they carried “stones, sticks, ropes, hooks, knives and other sharp objects”. It also stated that some migrants had set fire to their clothes in order to throw them on the Spanish Guardia Civil. Five policemen were reportedly injured on Wednesday. However, only hooks, ropes, and a few sticks can be seen in the video published by the government (below) that shows what was confiscated from the migrants.
Bonet believes that the Spanish Guardia Civil are trying to portray the migrants as criminals.
"Once migrants are on Spanish soil, they can't immediately be deported"
Beyond the question of violence, sending migrants back to Morocco is contrary to the law, as Bonet explains:This protocol, which was signed by the head of the Spanish Guardia Civil, Ambrosio Martin Villasenor, thus goes against the Ley de Extranjeria. One month ago, a Melilla judge accused him of prevarication, meaning that he signed the document knowing full well that it was contrary to the law.
On October 17, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, wrote on his Facebook page that “it is now necessary that an investigation is opened to establish accountability for police violence”. He added that “Spain has failed to uphold its international obligations in this field – sadly, this is not the first time.” On October 20, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) called on the authorities to “adopt the necessary measures” so that migrants’ rights are respected.
In the last few months, more and more migrants have tried to illegally enter Spain. In 2013, 4,235 of them managed to enter Melilla and Ceuta, Spain’s two enclaves in Morocco.
Post written with FRANCE 24 journalist Chloé Lauvergnier (@clauvergnier).
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