Hundreds of people tried for a second day to climb over the fences that separate a Spanish city in North Africa from Morocco, authorities said Thursday.
The Spanish government’s delegation in Melilla said 1,200 migrants attempted to scale the 6-meter (20-foot) barrier that perimeters the city and that 380 succeeded.
On Wednesday, an unprecedented 2,500 people tried to enter the city, resulting in 491 crossings, according to local authorities.
Spanish security forces activated an “anti-intrusion” mechanism early Thursday to confront what the government’s delegation described as “extreme violence” by trespassers who “threw stones, used hooks and sticks” at border agents.
Four Civil Guard officers were treated for injuries at a hospital, Sabrina Moh, the central government’s delegate in the city, told reporters.
People fleeing poverty or violence sometimes use mass border incursion attempts to reach Melilla and the other Spanish territory on the North Africa coast, Ceuta, as a springboard to continental Europe.
Moh said the ones who succeeded this week were transferred to the local migrant center, and authorities were evaluating their circumstances.