Refugee Violence? 600 African Migrants Storm Border Wall With Weapons While Shouting ‘Freedom’

Hundreds of African migrants wielding sheers and clubs broke through a 20-foot security fence dividing Morocco with Ceuta Friday and then stormed into the Spanish territory in North Africa. Footage of the scene taken from the fence’s security camera showed more than 600 migrants approaching the Tarajal area of the fence around 6 a.m. local time. They used tools and clubs to break upon the gate but were quickly met by Spain’s Civil Guard, or paramilitary police.

Spain’s Civil Guard said three police officers and two migrants were taken to a local hospital as a result of violent clashes along the fence. More than 300 migrants, many with wounds from scaling parts of the fence topped with barbed wire, were able to get past the Civil Guard and into the Ceuta, French Agence Presse reported Friday. Some of the men who managed to get through wrapped themselves in the Spanish national flag and the blue starred EU flag and shouted “freedom” in the streets of Cueta, a video provided by Faro TV Ceuta showed.

Fifty-five migrants were apprehended at the fence and will be returned to Morocco, according to the Associated Press Friday. Those who were able to get into Ceuta were most likely going to be taken to migrant centers in the city as they deliberate whether to seek asylum or work informally in Spain or other European countries.

The migrant center for temporary stay in Ceuta had taken in 600 people as of Friday, which was 100 people over its maximum. The center has resorted to setting up military tents in a nearby parking lot to accommodate the influx of new migrants Friday.

Hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants living illegally in Morocco regularly attempt to enter Cueta, which is one of two EU land borders with Africa. Cueta is separated from the rest of Spain in Northern Africa by the Strait of Gibralter. Roughly 1,100 migrants attempted to cross into Ceuta in January, but the majority of those were eventually turned back to Morocco.

A sharp rise in unemployment across the continent will lead to 15 million migrants from Africa traveling to Europe in the next three years, according to a report from Austrian Military Intelligence, an agency of the Austrian Armed Forces. More than half of a million Africans immigrated to EU countries between 2013 and 2016, according to the Austrian intelligence agency report.