← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Gregz
Thread ID: 20335 | Posts: 9 | Started: 2005-09-22
2005-09-22 20:27 | User Profile
The Guardian
Spanish authorities are rushing to double the height of a fence surrounding the north African enclave of Melilla after a dozen more immigrants were injured in a battle with police as they tried to find a way on to European soil.
The injuries followed the deaths of at least three immigrants over the past three weeks during mass attempts to storm the frontier that have ended in clashes with both Spanish police and their Moroccan counterparts on the other side of Melilla's border. Immigrants are using ladders and what one official called "military tactics" in their increasingly desperate attempts to get through the barrier erected around what is, in effect, a land frontier between the European Union and Africa.
Article continues Two 3m-high (10ft) security fences ring the Spanish enclave, which is home to 60,000 Spaniards and lies nine miles from the Moroccan city of Nador. Melilla is, with Ceuta, one of two Spanish enclaves on the coast of north Africa whose sovereignty is also claimed by Morocco. The six mile-long frontier has sensor pads, movement detectors, spotlights, infrared cameras and is patrolled by the Spanish civil guard.
The migrants, who have often travelled thousands of miles through central Africa and the Sahara to get to Melilla, try to cross the frontier in groups of up to 200. "We go in a group and all jump at once. We know that some will get through, that others will be injured and others may die, but we have to get through, whatever the cost," one told El Periódico newspaper.
Pitched battles with civil guard and army units from the notoriously tough Spanish Legion have seen rubber bullets fired at close range, according to immigrants and NGOs, while the Moroccans are accused of using bayonets and shotguns.
A 17-year-old from Cameroon was the first to die at the frontier after an attempted mass assault three weeks ago. Two more men have died in hospital in Melilla since then after fellow sub-Saharan Africans dropped them, badly injured, close to the fence. Local NGOs in Melilla claim the body of a fourth man was secretly removed by Moroccan police, who have spent several weeks chasing the sub-Saharan Africans out of forests surrounding the enclave. Spanish police deny responsibility for the deaths.
Several hundred immigrants have been reportedly rounded up by Moroccan police and put over the border with Algeria in recent weeks, though Spanish newspapers said yesterday many had already made the 95-mile trip back on foot. Spain began to double the height of the outer fence days ago, but said the job would take weeks. The new fence will be much higher than the Berlin Wall.
Police said they used anti-riot material to deter yesterday's immigrants. "When they arrive en masse the civil guard has to use this sort of material," government official José Fernández Chacón said.
2005-09-22 21:45 | User Profile
A toast to La Guardia Civil for their marksmanship!
Mining the border would be more cost effective. Claymores mines as immigration control. Some one call the department of homie land security, I just had a brain storm!!!! :smoke:
AE
[QUOTE=Gregz]The Guardian
Spanish authorities are rushing to double the height of a fence surrounding the north African enclave of Melilla after a dozen more immigrants were injured in a battle with police as they tried to find a way on to European soil. [/QUOTE]
2005-09-23 22:56 | User Profile
[QUOTE] Claymores mines as immigration control. [/QUOTE] HMMMM........Not as much fun as a $5.00 bounty for turning in the ears but your probably right about effective.
2005-09-24 15:49 | User Profile
Apparently there are three and half million African animalnoids amassed in North Africa. All of whom are intent on swarming into Europe and sacking the place.
Greg
"I found myself back in the sepulchral city resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets to filch a little money from each other, to devour their infamous cookery, to gulp their unwholesome beer, to dream their insignificant and silly dreams. They trespassed upon my thoughts. They were intruders whose knowledge of life was to me an irritating pretence, because I felt so sure they could not possibly know the things I knew." - Heart of Darkness : Joseph Conrad [pg.102]
2005-09-24 16:50 | User Profile
Since everything else is attributed to global warming, I'm suprised that the mass invasions of white peoples lands has not been attributed to it yet.
2005-09-28 03:28 | User Profile
The crowd that blames everything on global warming doesn't see the invasion as a problem.
2005-09-30 14:12 | User Profile
Our gvt could learn a thing or two from those in Spain, but alas our fearless leaders know exactly what they are doing when they stymie efforts to seal our border.
:whstl:
2005-09-30 14:17 | User Profile
more news [url]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050930/ap_on_re_eu/spain_immigrants[/url]
2005-09-30 14:36 | User Profile
Keep up the good work, Spain. New forts should be built too, equipped with cannons.