Whilst Spain and Morocco engage in a summer phony war over the Spanish enclave of Melilla and the behaviour of the police that control it, the press coverage it receives is in notable contrast to that given to much grimmer events that are connected to this frontier; a gateway into the European Union. Too many of us in Europe are happy to talk about Arizona's anti-immigrant law and the countless deaths of those who have failed to cross the frontier into the US. But whatever happened to those African immigrants dumped in the middle of the desert by Moroccan police to the satisfaction of the EU? You don't even need to ask about those who were shot trying to cross that border.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
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4 comments:
Very true Graeme. I actually wrote an article about the tragic shooting of 500 Africans trying to cross the border about 5 years ago:
http://nicholasmead.com/2005/10/09/melilla-bloodbath-on-the-africa-europe-frontier/
Not much has changed sadly it seems.
Sorry, I meant of course that 6 were shot out of a group of 500 trying to cross the border.
And, whilst nowhere near as worrying as what you point out, there's also the somewhat comical shenanigans happening at the border crossing at Gibraltar, where the mayor of La Linea has half-blocked the access to the rock with roadworks and is threatening to place a congestion charge on non-spaniards going through his town to get to Gibraltar.
It's ok. Aznar the crusader has been in Melilla today to sort things out. He can do Gibraltar on the way back.
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