The sequence, video by video, of the avalanche on the Melilla fence that ended in tragedy

The BBC report on the tragedy at the Melilla fence that resulted in at least 23 deaths has rekindled a fire that the Ministry of the Interior considered extinguished.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
09 November 2022 Wednesday 09:31
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The sequence, video by video, of the avalanche on the Melilla fence that ended in tragedy

The BBC report on the tragedy at the Melilla fence that resulted in at least 23 deaths has rekindled a fire that the Ministry of the Interior considered extinguished. The British chain, whose thesis the parliamentary partners of the Government have joined, contradicts the official version, assuring that there were migrants who died in an area under Spanish control. The head of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, does not move one iota from his initial thesis: "There were no tragic events in Spain."

La Vanguardia has accessed the videos recorded by the Civil Guard helicopter during the moments of the violent massive jump from which it follows that the human avalanche occurred at the moments in which the Moroccan police entered the border crossing to charge.

Some 1,700 immigrants, the majority of Sudanese origin, arrived early in the morning of June 24 at the Barro Chino border crossing in Melilla with little resistance from the Moroccan police. In the images captured by Interior you can see the enormous disproportion between the group of migrants equipped with sticks, hooks and stones and the small number of agents overwhelmed by the situation.

Dozens of people entered the courtyard of the border post through the main Moroccan entrance or by climbing the walls of the compound. One of them gave way, causing an unknown number of migrants to collapse on Moroccan soil. The Sudanese who have accessed the courtyard begin to crowd into several metal doors that give access to a joint operational zone between Spain and Morocco.

The images capture how the migrants use a huge sledgehammer to try to break the metal door. When the camera plane opens, you can clearly see the moments of chaos that are taking place in those moments. While a first row of migrants tries to break down the metal gate, in a second row they push each other to try to cross the border.

Another group of migrants chooses to jump the fence by climbing the inverted combs that crown the fence that separates the two countries. On the other side they are watched by agents of the State Security Forces and Bodies. The patio is about to become a mousetrap for immigrants: agents on one side and the other launch tear gas and smoke canisters to try to repel the jump.

A few minutes after 8:30 in the morning, the migrants, as captured by the helicopter of the Armed Institute, use a radial machine to break the door that gives access to another patio before the Spanish customs building, where the border turnstiles are located. guarded by Civil Guard agents. It is in this green building, several meters away from the place of maximum tension, where the Spanish flag flies.

It's 8:42 in the morning. After half an hour of blows with mallets and the radio, the group that was in the front line manages to open the closed doors on the Moroccan side of the fence. Start the bottle tube. Several hundred people try to cross at the same time through the same door to access the Spanish side.

Whoever managed to get through just had to climb to a green roof, already with a Spanish flag, and from there, jump the fence to the other side. With that jump they were already in Spain, where a group of civil guards were waiting for them who, separated by a road, tried to contain them. Just as they manage to break down the door, the Moroccan policemen (in white helmets) enter the courtyard to stop the exit. That's when tragedy occurs. An avalanche of people, mostly men, trying to get out through a narrow door while the police behind them try to prevent it.

In the images you can see hundreds of people who, to try to flee, threw stones and scored goals with sticks. Meanwhile, the Moroccan police use force to prevent the mass departure. The traffic jam at the front due to the stampede through the door, and the police pressure from behind, accompanied by tear gas, caused the avalanche. Some managed to get to the Spanish side but others stayed glued to the fence. And that's when the previously seen images of men thrown, unconscious, crushed and beaten begin. At least 23 of them died and hundreds of them were wounded.

Of that group that did manage to jump, some were immediately returned to the other side and others managed to escape and enter the CETI. While the Civil Guard agents kept the device on that side of the road, faced with a group that was throwing stones at them, carrying sticks and other targets, the Moroccan police tried to stop the avalanche. More than fifty civil guards were wounded of varying severity during the events.

In the image you can see in the background the Moroccan policemen with white helmets already in the area of ​​the door while the Civil Guard agents contained those who had jumped from the green roof – Spanish border post as it is reflected waving the Spanish flag. As can be seen, the agents who were at the post went out through the corridors to come to the aid of their colleagues in view of the number of people who had managed to jump. The video shows how the agents are stoned while one of them warns the newcomers not to go onto the road, in a situation of clear tension.