Spain has admitted shooting at migrants trying to enter its territory in Ceuta, North Africa.
Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told parliament that rubber bullets were fired last week at migrants who were swimming from Morocco to the Spanish enclave. Twelve 12 people are known to have drowned in that attempt, but the full toll may be higher.
Earlier the country’s Civil Guard stated that no bullets had been fired.
The sound of gun shots was captured on video footage taken by an onlooker on shore. It shows migrants wading to the beach towards the waiting Civil Guard and officers then firing into the water.
A crowd of more than 200 migrants were trying on that occasion to get into Ceuta, swimming around an artificial breakwater which separates the enclave from Morocco.
The Interior Ministry released its own video showing the migrants throwing stones at the border fence. Since November that fence has been lined with razor wire to keep migrants out. The Ministry’s video does not include footage of the shots being fired.
The Minister claimed the rubber bullets used were “proportional” measures in response to the “belligerent behaviour of the group”. Moreover, the bullets were not directed at the migrants but instead at least 25 meters from them. No deaths had resulted from the bullets, he said.
Human rights groups are demanding further investigation of the incident and called for better treatment for migrants.
Attempts to reach Europe through the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla have stepped up recently.
