Breaking for the border, in one long line

Around a thousand sub-Saharan migrants set out for Morocco’s border with Melilla in the early hours of Wednesday morning with the aim of jumping the security fence and entering the Spanish North African exclave.

Such movements are a regular occurrence along the frontier, but the strange thing this time was that the would-be immigrants opted to walk from their camp on Mount Gurugú in single file, as the above infrared video captured by a Civil Guard helicopter show.

The group was later “held back and dispersed” at the border by Moroccan security forces, which had been alerted following the activation of the cooperation protocol between Spain and Morocco.

The government delegation in Melilla said the attempt “shows once again the extreme migratory pressure on this city” and “backs up the need to reinforce the anti-intrusion measures that make up the border perimeter.” These include the reintroduction of razor wire on sections of the fence, a subject that was debated in Congress on Wednesday.