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Africa North

Spanish police boat chases down and runs over 'migrant dinghy'

2024-08-29

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] In a video taken on Horcas Coloradas beach on Sunday in Melilla, Spain,

…actually on shore of North Africa next to Morocco…

a small motorboat said to be carrying four African migrants - including a girl - can be seen being pursued by a border vessel.

After refusing to comply with warnings from the Royal Marine Gendarmerie patrol to stop, the Spanish Civil Guard motorboat veers to the right, driving over the top of the dinghy.

It causes the migrants' boat to capsize, throwing at least one person into the sea. The Government Delegation in Melilla - a Spanish enclave of Melilla in northern Morocco - has since confirmed no one was injured, RTVE Noticias reports.

Local reports suggest the migrants were attempting to travel from Morocco to Melilla.

A Moroccan NGO has already requested an investigation, while the Melilla government delegation maintained the Civil Guard carried out a 'normal procedure' to prevent the arrival of migrants to the coast.

It comes after dozens of sunbathing tourists watched in shock as 20 suspected migrants disembarked from a dinghy onto a packed beach in the Spanish islands earlier this month.

The vessel pulled into the cove and stopped on the shoreline in Cala Gran Santanyí, Mallorca, Spain, on Tuesday around 6pm. Video shared on social media shows how roughly 20 people - mostly young men - got off the boat and dodged beach towels as they walked in single file across the sand.

The Ministry of the Interior for Spain has also decided not to launch an internal investigation into the boating incident, Public report, which has been widely criticised by left-wing political parties EH Bildu and Sumar.

“Spain is so mean to those poor, innocent migrants!” Except that’s not what’s going on at all. To relieve the pressure of accumulated migrants — or sometimes to punish Spain for not recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara — Morocco regularly releases hundreds or thousands of migrants at the fenced border of the Melilla enclave. Their job is to break down the fence, or pop around the border line in the Mediterranean in small boats, hide until the authorities give up, then take the ferry from Melilla to mainland Europe. This has been going on for years, and may one day achieve Morocco’s ultimate goal of making this little Spanish colony on the North African coast unsustainable.

Posted by:Skidmark

#5 the Spanish Civil Guard motorboat veers to the right, driving over the top of the dinghy.

"Helmsman, port 20 degrees."
"Port is to the left, right?"
"Right."
"Oh, OK."
(multiple screams)
"Oopsie!"

Posted by: SteveS 2024-08-29 22:29

#4 Always welcome, KBK. There is so much interesting and useful information to be found in the Rantburg archives for the minor exertion of a keyword search.

Posted by: trailing wife 2024-08-29 11:15

#3 Thanks for the info, TW!

Posted by: KBK 2024-08-29 09:44

#2 Pope Francis: Turning Away Migrants Is a ‘Grave Sin’

Posted by: Skidmark 2024-08-28 09:13

#1 People Smugglers Throwing Boat Migrants Overboard to Evade Capture, Say Greek Authorities

Posted by: Skidmark 2024-08-28 09:10

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