Launches investigation after a dozen migrants died at border crossing – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
Pictures and video of what happened afterwards spread online in the days that followed.
Human rights organizations around the world may have been persuaded to react in disgust.
In a video filmed by the human rights organization AMDH (The Moroccan Association of Human Rights), one can see bloody migrants being beaten by police with a baton and lying lifeless on the ground.
According to Spanish authorities, about 2,000 migrants tried to storm the fence between Morocco and it. Spanish enclave Melilla. It writes Vergen.
Not sure how many died
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has written on his Twitter account that he is shocked by what happened.
– I am shocked by the degree of violence shown at the border last Friday, which ended in the deaths of dozens of migrants and asylum seekers. The use of excessive violence is unacceptable. The rights and dignity of people on the run must be a priority.
How many were actually injured or killed after the incident is uncertain. Different actors convey different numbers.
Amnesty writes its pages that it is «at least 23». The Moroccan authorities also said this last Friday. AMDH reports 37 dead.
Amnesty International signs their pages that the pictures leaked from Melilla are shocking.
Piles of people, both living and dead, are lying on the ground, while Moroccan police are wandering around them, they write.
Amnesty says they demand an independent and thorough investigation. This applies to this incident, but also to previous incidents at the same border.
Launches investigation
The following Saturday, the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, described the incident as “an attack on the territorial integrity of Spain”, writes Vergen.
Last Tuesday, it became known that Spanish public prosecutors have started an investigation into the deaths.
AMDH also accuses Moroccan authorities of trying to cover up the deaths.
They wrote on Twitter six days after the incident that none of the dead had been autopsied.
In retrospect, there have been major protests in both Spain and Morocco against what happened.
The Spanish Commission on Refugees said most of those who tried to cross the border had fled the conflict in Sudan.