Last weekend’s deaths at the Melilla border fence are the result of the European Union’s policies

Jun 27, 2022

The events that took place on the 24th of June, 2022 at the border between Nador and Melilla resulted in the death of many migrants, along with hundreds of injured people. The actions by the police forces, causing a massacre, have been shown around the world with the images being shared on social media and in the mainstream media. In ELA’s opinion, these deaths are the responsibility of the European Union’s policies and it urges the participation in mobilisations to reject these deaths and the hypocrisy of the border controls and the agreement between Spain and Morocco.

ELA added its voice to the calls made by human rights organisations to immediately start up an independent judicial investigation both by Morocco and Spain, as well as an international one, to clarify this tragedy. Likewise, ELA denounces the fact that the response by the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, (qualifying the events as a “well resolved” operation), in addition to being an outrage, point towards another attempt to cover up all the responsibilities rather than investigate the facts.

As many social organisations have stated, the responsibility for these events does not lie in the migrants who are trying to flee from wars or terrible famines, but in the European policies of closing borders, which leaves them without any other option than that of jumping over the fence. Part of the official story is to justify the occurrence in the supposed violence of these migrants, which in no way corresponds to the reality, in this case or in many other cases.

ELA is denouncing the hypocrisy of the European Union’s Governments, which are outsourcing the control of the borders to organisations such as the Moroccan Government, through agreements with shameful contents. It is also very hypocritical to treat Africans and the people who have had to leave Ukraine very differently. We cannot ignore the racist component that lies under this double standard.

Lastly, ELA is making a call to participate in the different mobilisations that are being convened in Euskal Herria to reject the massacre that occurred on the 24th of June and along with this, the European Union’s policies.