More than 400 African migrants forced their way into the tiny Spanish enclave of Ceuta Friday, authorities said, the biggest group in a decade to storm the walled city bordering Morocco in search of asylum.
A group of around 800 people attempted to scale two entry points in the six-metre-high (20-feet) barrier that surrounds the enclave, a spokesman for the central government's representative in Ceuta told AFP.
Of these, 438 succeeded and were able to enter the Spanish city, he added.
Footage posted online by the El Faro de Ceuta newspaper showed dozens of migrants, including men without shoes and shirts, letting off joyous cries of "Spain!" as they crossed into Ceuta.
"You have to go back to the early 2000s to see numbers like this," the Spanish government spokesman told AFP.
According to authorities, all were taken to a temporary detention centre, where migrants are held while officials decide whether or not they will be deported, bar two who were hospitalised for a broken wrist and a ruptured tendon.
The Red Cross said it had treated 103 people for minor injuries sustained during the assault.
Meanwhile Moroccan news agency MAP said around 300 of those who did not make it across were detained.
Ceuta along with Melilla, another Spanish territory in North Africa, have the European Union's only land borders with Africa.
They are one of the 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.
The objective for migrants entering Ceuta illegally is to reach the temporary detention centre where they can, in principle, request asylum.
But Amnesty International and other rights groups have qualified Ceuta and Melilla as extra-legal territories where they say asylum rights are not always respected, and denounced police mistreatment of migrants there.
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.
In October a group of about 220 people managed to storm two entry points into Ceuta, injuring 35 migrants and three security officers in the process.
More than 400 African migrants forced their way into the tiny Spanish enclave of Ceuta Friday, authorities said, the biggest group in a decade to storm the walled city bordering Morocco in search of asylum.
A group of around 800 people attempted to scale two entry points in the six-metre-high (20-feet) barrier that surrounds the enclave, a spokesman for the central government’s representative in Ceuta told AFP.
Of these, 438 succeeded and were able to enter the Spanish city, he added.
Footage posted online by the El Faro de Ceuta newspaper showed dozens of migrants, including men without shoes and shirts, letting off joyous cries of “Spain!” as they crossed into Ceuta.
“You have to go back to the early 2000s to see numbers like this,” the Spanish government spokesman told AFP.
According to authorities, all were taken to a temporary detention centre, where migrants are held while officials decide whether or not they will be deported, bar two who were hospitalised for a broken wrist and a ruptured tendon.
The Red Cross said it had treated 103 people for minor injuries sustained during the assault.
Meanwhile Moroccan news agency MAP said around 300 of those who did not make it across were detained.
Ceuta along with Melilla, another Spanish territory in North Africa, have the European Union’s only land borders with Africa.
They are one of the 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.
The objective for migrants entering Ceuta illegally is to reach the temporary detention centre where they can, in principle, request asylum.
But Amnesty International and other rights groups have qualified Ceuta and Melilla as extra-legal territories where they say asylum rights are not always respected, and denounced police mistreatment of migrants there.
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.
In October a group of about 220 people managed to storm two entry points into Ceuta, injuring 35 migrants and three security officers in the process.
