Assault on Melilia on June 24, 2022: Timeline of Events
A year ago, a group of illegal sub-Saharan migrants attempted to storm the occupied enclave of Melilia by scaling the metal fence separating the occupied enclave from Nador. Here follows the timeline of the events of this migratory precedent:
June 24, 2022
– Early in the morning, a group of sub-Saharan illegal immigrants launched an attempted assault on Melilia, scaling the iron fence between Nador and Melilia and engaging in unprecedented violence, using clubs, stones and sharp objects against Moroccan public forces.
– According to local authorities, 140 members of the public forces were injured to varying degrees, 5 of them seriously.
– 5 of the illegal immigrants who led the assault were killed in the ensuing scramble and fall from the top of the fence, while 76 others were injured, 13 of them seriously.
– The wounded were evacuated to hospitals in Nador and Oujda.
– Later in the day, local authorities reported a further 13 deaths among the wounded illegal migrants, bringing the death toll to 18. No deaths were recorded among members of the security forces.
June 25, 2022
– According to local authorities, two law enforcement officers and 33 illegal migrants are under medical supervision in Nador and Oujda in “stable” health condition.
– Later, local sources reported five more deaths among the assailants. The death toll now stands at 23.
– One member of the security forces and 18 assailants are under medical surveillance.
June 27, 2022
– The National Human Rights Council (CNDH) sets up a fact-finding mission on the attempted assault, stating that the photos and videos circulated “have nothing to do with the attempt crossing of migrants.”
June 29, 2022
– The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez, pleads for support for Morocco, which is suffering the consequences of the illegal immigration phenomenon and needs to be “helped to manage the mafias of human trafficking and to control migratory flows.”
July 02, 2022
– Spain’s Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, stresses that Morocco faces an “extremely complex situation” in combating illegal immigration mafias and controlling migratory flows.
04 July 2022
– Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson declared that Morocco is a “key strategic” partner of the European Union and plays a “major” role in migration management and the fight against smugglers.
– Johansson also pointed out that the people involved in the Nador incidents “came from Sudan, via Libya and Algeria.”
07 July 2022
– Government spokesman Mustapha Baitas reports that the assault was “premeditated, planned and executed in a well thought-out manner, far from the usual attempted assaults.”
July 09, 2022
– Tangier police apprehend 25 illegal sub-Saharan migrants at a road checkpoint at the entrance to the city of Tangier, immediately after their arrival on board a public transport bus, in flagrante delicto possession of 36 home-made iron objects, allegedly used in collective escalation immigration operations.
July 09, 2022
– Tangier police seize 138 iron objects attached to one wooden and one rubber blade, allegedly used in collective illegal immigration climbing and incursion operations.
July 13, 2022
– The CNDH President presented the preliminary report of the fact-finding mission commissioned by the Council, noting among other conclusions that “the authorities, non-governmental associations and injured migrants in hospital all unanimously said that there had been no recourse to bullets and that the forces of law and order had used truncheons and tear gas.”
– The deaths recorded were caused by mechanical asphyxia due to suffocation caused by the jostling and clumping of a large number of victims, in a hermetically sealed area, according to the Council.
