According to a fact check by the Associated Press, video showing migrants climbing a fence between Morocco and Melilla was mistakenly claimed to be an attack on the southern border of the United States with Mexico.

In the footage, refugees may be seen attempting to reach Melilla in March 2022. The video shows a sizable crowd of individuals climbing a wall.

Many users who saw the video on social media conjectured that it showed migrants attempting to enter the United States through the southern border.

Users reposted the same video along with photographs of Vice President Kamala Harris and the hashtag “Bidens America.” The user who shared the video did so with the words “Mexico US Border.”

Read Also:Largest attempt to cross Spain’s Melilla border… About 2500 migrants try to scale the high fence

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Enaam Mayara, the head of the House of Councilors, made some remarks regarding the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla. Spain’s minister of defense, Margarita Robles, has responded.

A nationalist Istiqlal party member named Naam Mayara had proposed that the “occupied” cities will eventually be reclaimed by diplomacy rather than force.

“Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish; there is nothing more to dispute,” Robles declared with “absolute and entire authority.”

Robles, quoted by Europa Press, said, “I feel very Ceut and Melillense because I feel Spanish,” avoiding a direct response to Mayara’s remarks in favor of emphasizing her personal ties to the two cities.

Robles merely said that there was no discussion on the subject when asked if the Spanish government would ask Morocco for a clarification.

Spain and Morocco have long had disagreements over the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla, with Spain claiming that they are an essential component of its territory while Morocco contests this.

Mayara’s remarks are especially relevant because the Istiqlal party, of which she is a member, is a component of the tripartite party led by the Moroccan government.

During a gathering hosted by the Istiqlal women’s organization, Mayara made the remarks. The conference’s theme was “Fundamentals and Possibilities one year after the new stage of Spanish-Moroccan relations.”

In a meeting video that Facebook made available, Mayara stated that “Spanish colonization continues in Ceuta and Melilla.”

The Istiqlal, he continued, “did not stop and won’t stop talking about colonization in these two cities and the potential solutions to recover them.” Additionally, he highlighted that neither city “will be subject to blackmail”.

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According to a research from the Observatory of Ceuta and Melilla, the cities’ autonomy has left them in a legal limbo.

The observatory states that the independent nature of the enclaves “needs improvement” and hasn’t been modified in more than 20 years since it went into effect.

The report notes that “it is surprising that after more than twenty years of operation of the statutes of autonomy of Ceuta and Melilla there has not been any study, audit, or evaluation on the functioning of the administration of both cities, when it is clear that there are aspects to improve.” The report develops an exhaustive analysis on the fit of Ceuta and Melilla in the autonomous Spain.

Professor Hernández states that “the current legal system has begun to petrify as the cities lack legislative authority of their own, together with the State’s lack of agility when it comes to updating legislation” in this regard.

The Observatory of Ceuta and Melilla states in its study that the lack of adaptation of the educational system to the integration issues of the sizable Muslim minority is the result of the State’s centralized supervision of educational matters, which results in “low quality teaching results.”
Professor Hernández Lafuente emphasized the inability of submitting appeals of unconstitutionality and conflicts of competence before the Constitutional Court as the two most significant restrictions now present in the Laws of Autonomy of Ceuta and Melilla during his address.

As a result, they are powerless to preserve their autonomy because they lack the legislative authority to correct inequalities in pertinent areas like education or health, as well as the political will to demand an examination of the two cities’ respective jurisdictions.

Hernández Lafuente emphasized the necessity for the central State to demonstrate “greater support and devotion to Ceuta and Melilla” as a result of these exclusions, in order to ensure that their legal system does not result in inequality or discrimination with the residents of the rest of Spain.

The report of the Observatory of Ceuta and Melilla aims to promote a debate on the functioning of the two enclaves: “Adequate legal and political solutions are needed to adapt the situation of Ceuta and Melilla to the integral functioning of the autonomous State.”

Carlos Echeverra, the director of the Observatory, delivered the presentation. He stressed that the report dealt with the constitutional and administrative aspects of both cities, and in particular, how Melilla and Ceuta fit into the constitutional framework, or “both where we are and where we should be,” in statements to the Spanish publication El Faro de Melilla.

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Around 6 am on Thursday, the Spanish Guardia Civil noticed several immigrants approaching the borders fence. According to the Government Delegation, about 1200 individuals originating from sub-Saharan Africa attempted to cross borders by jumping the high fence, some 350 managed to do so. The act took place between the border crossings of Barrio Chino and Beni-Enzar.

This is the second attempt to jump over the Melilla fence in two days. According to Efe, anti-riot means have been used by the Moroccan border guards to try to prevent the border crossing, yet the Spanish government delegation has indicated that the migrants “have displayed extreme violence, throwing stones, and using hooks and sticks against the security forces” which led to the injury of several immigrants and four civil guard agents.

The Spanish conservative nationalist political party VOX represented by its leader, Santiago Abascal, said that “at any time this represents a serious attack on Spanish sovereignty and borders, but now [with the Russian invasion of Ukraine] it takes on greater importance,” asking the government what measures they are willing to adopt in order to stop this act from happening again and if they consider this assault a threat to Spain’s National Security. Abascal continued “this inaction by the Government sends a tremendously wrong and dangerous message for the interests of Spain.”

Besides that, the far-right politician and candidate in the 2022 french presidential election Éric Zemmour commented on his Twitter account “At the gates of Europe, in Melilla on the African continent, thousands of migrants storm the Spanish border. We must support Spain to protect our nations.”

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According to the government delegation of Melilla, at 9:30 am up to 2500 sub-Saharan African migrants and refugees tried to cross borders by jumping the fence with only 500 of them succeeding in doing so as the local authorities said.

This flux, called “salto masivo” by the local police of Melilla, is considered the largest ever. On Wednesday, Sabrina Moh, the representative of the Spanish government, has witnessed “live” this border-crossing attempt and was surprised it took place in “broad daylight”.

According to Europa Press, the migrants and refugees were “armed with hooks, sticks, and screws in their shoes and were throwing stones, which meant that they overtook the Moroccan security forces who were trying to prevent them from reaching the fence”.

Also, the Spanish government’s local delegation said “The great violence used by the migrants … overwhelmed the Moroccan security forces who were trying to prevent them from reaching the fence”.

The authorities said that a number of civil guards suffered “slight injuries” due to the act, and about 20 of the migrants have been transferred to the regional hospital.

Sabrina Moh highlighted the efforts and the collaboration between the Moroccan border guards and the Spanish Guardia Civil police.

This took place months after the influx that happened when up to 10,000 people have tried to cross into Ceuta territory in the midst of the Rabat-Madrid diplomatic crisis during May 2021.

During the past years, many attempts to jump the fence took place in Melilla’s borders. The largest amongst them was that of 2014 when about 1100 immigrants have tried to cross the fence with only 492 who managed to do so.

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