Melilla - Spain has reinforced border controls at its North African enclaves Melilla and Ceuta after African would-be immigrants made their second attempt to storm Melilla within 24 hours, officials said Monday. About 20 people trying to enter Melilla were stopped by frontier guards on the Moroccan side of the border late Sunday. Spain temporarily interrupted the movement of people and vehicles through the Beni-Enzar border post.
The migrants had hoped that frontier controls might be more relaxed during the Euro quarter-finals football match between Spain and Italy, reports said.
The attempt followed the entry of some 70 migrants who ran over the border crossing the night before. Several police officers were injured in the stampede.
Several migrants were also given hospital care after "fainting" on the Moroccan side of the border, the Spanish daily El Pais quoted Moroccan police as saying.
About 50 of the Africans were arrested in Melilla, and police were searching for the rest, police chief Francisco Javier Velazquez said.
Ceuta also raised a border alert, though no attempts to storm its border were expected.
Running over border posts was a "new way" for illegals to enter, Velazquez explained.
At least 14 migrants were killed in the fall of 2005 when successive waves comprising thousands of people tried to climb the fences surrounding Melilla and Ceuta.
Increased arrests of illegals in Morocco have discouraged migrants from trying to enter Ceuta and Melilla. The main route of illegal immigration now passes from the West African coast to the Canary Islands, which received 17,000 would-be immigrants last year.
