Hundreds of migrants rush border at Spain’s Ceuta

Migrants celebrate after forcing their way through a fence between Morocco and the tiny Spanish enclave of Ceuta. (AFP)

MADRID: Some 300 migrants stormed the border between Morocco and Spain at Ceuta on Monday, authorities said, days after one of the largest rush of arrivals over the frontier in more than a decade.
The young migrants climbed over the high border fence into the Spanish North African territory, ecstatic to have finally crossed into a European Union state.
Some kissed the ground and shouted “Thank you lord” and “Viva Espana,” though several had bloodied hands and feet as well as torn clothes after scaling the barrier.
Ceuta and Melilla, also a Spanish territory in North Africa, have the EU’s only land borders with Africa, so are entry points for migrants who either climb the border fence, swim along the coast or hide in vehicles.
Spanish police told AFP that “300 entered, double that number tried.”
Their arrival came just days after nearly 500 migrants made it over the fence on Friday, one of the biggest entries since the border barrier was reinforced in 2005.
The last such massive attempt took place on New Year’s Day when more than 1,000 migrants tried to jump a high double fence between Morocco and Ceuta in a violent assault that saw one officer lose an eye.
The enclave has been ringed by a double wire fence eight kilometers (five miles) long. The six-meter high fence also has rolls of barbed wire.