Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash

These images show around 50 desperate migrants with no masks who jumped over a border fence and into Spain despite the country’s ongoing COVID outbreak.

According to the government delegation of Melilla, the storming of the border took place at around 5 am today in the area of Villa Pilar, in the Spanish city of Melilla in northern Africa with around 260 migrants participating.

The local government described the situation as a “massive and violent entrance” into Spanish territory, with the migrants going past Morocco’s physical barriers before trying to climb the fence into Spain.

Local media report fifty of the migrants managed to reach Spain whilst two were arrested and some were temporarily stuck in between Spain and Morocco but have since returned to Morocco.

According to the local Melilla government, the migrants desperately trying to enter Spain came from Sub-Saharan Africa.

The migrants who managed to reach Spain are waiting outside the temporary migrant centre but have reportedly been prohibited from entering by police and the Spanish Civil Guard.

Members of the Red Cross went to the centre which some organisations recently reported contains more than 1,700 people, more than double its maximum capacity.

The Government of Melilla said last week that the centre is saturated and coronavirus protocols were being carried out inside.

The Spanish border with Morocco has been closed since 13th March whilst Melilla’s port and airport were closed on 17th March on government orders during the coronavirus pandemic.

Local media reported that this is the first major border crossing since the Spanish Interior Ministry started to remove the tridimensional tow rope made up of wires located in the middle of the perimeter at the crossing.

According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Spain has registered 136,675 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 13,341 deaths and 40,437 recoveries.

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