At the feet of the Moroccan police, there are dozens of migrants, mostly inert. In rags, some are injured, their hands tied behind their backs. These images were shot on Friday June 24 in Beni Ensar, on the border between Morocco and Melilla, one of the two Spanish, and therefore European, enclaves on the African continent.
About two hours earlier, several hundred migrants tried to force the border post. At least 23 migrants have died. in jostling and falling from the iron fence “, according to the Moroccan authorities, while migrants and NGOs question the violent repression of the police. What do the images taken that day show?
Amateur videos, authenticated and geolocated by The worldas well as testimonies make it possible to reconstruct the events that led to this tragedy and to point out the gray areas.
A prepared attempt
Gathered in the forest of Mount Gourougou, on the outskirts of the city, migrants have been surviving for years in makeshift camps, at the mercy of police pressure which sometimes leaves them without water or food. It is under these conditions that the migrants prepared, for at least a month, their attempt to cross on June 24, according to the testimonies collected by The world ten days after the tragedy. Warned of the coup in preparation, migrants from other regions of Morocco took the opportunity to join the camps of Beni Ensar.
Informed of the project, the Moroccan security forces launched, on June 23, a combing operation in the forest to dislodge the migrants, without success. Clashes broke out, widely reported by the local media. ” They gave us twenty-four hours to vacate the premises “says a migrant to the Monde.
Forced passage
On Friday May 24, at dawn, a group of 1,300 to 2,000 migrants set off from Mount Gourougou. Their objective: to reach Beni Ensar and the border district of Barrio Chino. Contrary to previous attempts, most migrants do not plan to scale the fences, but rather to break through the border post and then open the doors that lead to Melilla, and to Europe.
On these images, the column progresses towards the border.
Some migrants are armed with sticks.
At first, the Moroccan law enforcement agencies appear passive, even absent.
The first clashes broke out as the fence approached: The police were waiting for us at the barrier says Bicha, 17, from Darfur; ” there were some in front of us and behind us; we were surrounded ».
In the images below, Moroccan police in riot gear charge behind the migrants. The images show several officers using stun grenades, but also throwing stones, by hand or with slingshots.
The Barrio Chino Trap
While some of the migrants turned back, about six hundred others managed to gather around the border post.
Surrounded by the police, they enter the enclosure. In the images we have analysed, some migrants reach the checkpoint by walking along the border fence, others scale the main gate or climb through a side wall, surmounted by a fence and barbed wire.
Under the weight of the migrants, a piece of this fence collapses, towards the street.
These images have been widely relayed by the Moroccan media close to the government to explain the heavy human toll.
Their statements are disputed by several migrants interviewed by The world, who affirm that at that time no one died, that there were only a few injuries. The images captured a few minutes after the collapse of the fence also show no migrant bodies.
Stuck in the courtyard between the Moroccan and Spanish fences, the migrants suffered dozens of projectiles from the Moroccan security forces, who surrounded the border post. Sound grenades are used and, again, stones.
Footage shot from the roof of the border post shows migrants responding with throwing projectiles.
At the back of the courtyard, dozens of migrants are massed against barred doors, the last that separate them from the turnstiles of access to the Spanish enclave. It is here that the deadliest events of the day will take place.
« It was horrible to see that »
To pass into Spain, narrow mesh passages lead to turnstiles, which regulate entry and exit, drop by drop. This border post is described by several sources as a bottleneck.
Hundreds of migrants would have rushed there, according to the Moroccan authorities. Scrambles would then have taken place in this confined space, causing the death by suffocation of several migrants present. A ” traffic jam “Confirmed by Bicha:” There were many of us in this space. »
If the images are lacking to precisely document the events inside the courtyard, several migrants interviewed by The world claim that the squeezing motion in front of the station doors is not the main cause of the deaths.
« That’s not what caused the injuries and deaths », insists Bicha. « The police hit us. There were rubber bullets, stun batons and exploding grenades. Several migrants describe Moroccan agents armed with Flash-Ball, truncheons and stones, used without restraint. ” It was horrible to see that says Abrahim, another migrant. ” Some have lost an eye, teeth. Some have had their skulls cut open, their arms or legs fractured. They beat us like they wanted us dead. »
Widely relayed images in particular show an officer knocking a migrant to the ground, while one of his colleagues throws another migrant on him.
The slowness of relief
Migrants and associations point to the slowness of the care provided by the Moroccan authorities. Several images show dozens of bodies, dead or injured, lying in front of the border post, where they were gathered by the police. It is then almost 30°C in the shade.
According to the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), the rescue teams were not mobilized immediately. The migrants remained on the ground, injured, for several hours, in full sun ».
This day of June 24 marks one of the deadliest migration dramas at Europe’s land borders. At least 23 migrants died, according to the Moroccan authorities, around thirty according to the AMDH. Moroccan authorities also reported 76 migrants and 140 officers injured. And 133 migrants managed to enter Melilla, where they were placed in the only temporary reception center for migrants in the Spanish enclave.