Nearly 400 migrants storm border at Spain's Ceuta

By AFP

Africa

DEC 9, 2016 LISTEN

The six-metre tall border fence that divides Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. By Jorge Guerrero (AFP/File)

Madrid (AFP) - Nearly 400 migrants forced their way through a fence between Morocco and the tiny Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Friday, slightly injuring two police officers, authorities said.

They stormed two entry points in the tall fence that surrounds the enclave, in an assault that also injured three migrants, local authorities told AFP.

Ceuta along with Melilla, another Spanish territory in North Africa, have the European Union's only land borders with Africa.

They are favoured entry points for African migrants seeking a better life in Europe, who get there by either climbing over the border fence or by swimming along the coast.

In 2014, 15 migrants drowned as dozens tried to swim to Ceuta from a nearby beach.

At the time, human rights groups and migrants said Spanish police tried to keep them from reaching the shore by firing rubber bullets and spraying them with tear gas.