Morocco’s state-affiliated human rights council released a report Wednesday depicting last month’s attempt by hundreds of migrants to storm the border between the North African kingdom and the Spanish enclave of Melilla as “unprecedented in nature, tactics used and scope.”
At least 23 people, mostly from Sudan and Chad, died in the attempt. The National Council on Human Rights, or CNDH, concluded that most died of asphyxiation in what authorities called a stampede, although autopsies have not yet been carried out. In addition to the deaths, 200 Moroccan and Spanish law enforcement officers and more than 70 civilians were injured in the melee.
