Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Rabat should raise the issue of human rights violations in the Melilla tragedy, which claimed the lives of about thirty migrants on June 24.
Asked about images of the tragedy that he said he did not see during his last speech on Wednesday on the subject, and about “respect for human rights in this situation,” Sanchez stressed on Sunday in an interview with the daily El Pais that “it is up to the Moroccan government to answer this question.”
“We need to talk about what we are doing in Spain,” he added.
He corrected his comments, acknowledging “the efforts made by Morocco, suffering from immigration pressure, to defend not its own, but Spanish borders”, referring to the need for Spain and Europe to show “solidarity” with Morocco.
On June 24, 30 African migrants died when about 2,000 people tried to forcibly enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla in Morocco.
Photos released hours after the tragedy show atrocities with bodies strewn across the ground, the use of force by Moroccan police, and the use of tear gas by Spanish security forces against men holding on to a fence, Human Rights Watch said.
The enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta are the EU’s only land borders with Africa.
The Prime Minister considered Melilla to be “the last episode of a tragedy that began a long time ago, at a distance of several kilometers”, once again referring to a violent attack involving “armed” people and organized by “mafia” event. “.
So far, the official death toll from the tragedy is unknown. Authorities say there are “30” dead, with the highest death toll recorded on the border between Morocco and the two enclaves.
The collective attempt by migrants to enter Melilla came after Madrid and Rabat normalized their diplomatic relations after a crisis that lasted about a year and focused on Madrid’s position on the Western Sahara conflict.
Source: AFP.