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Police raid immigrants camps in Ceuta

sara | 30.09.2005 17:18

Update from the Spanish/Moroccan border in Ceuta where 5 immigrants were killed on Wednesday night while trying to cross the fence. Moroccan police have now entered the camps and arrested around 60 people. The immigranst did not resist.


Forest of Ben Yunech (Morocco), 30 sep (EFE).- Moroccan police are today carrying out raids amongst the immigrants camped in the forests next to the fence border with the Spanish city of Ceuta.

The raids in the wooded zone of Ben Yunech began around 05.00 GMT (with the first lights of the dawn), carried out by several hundreds of the denominated Auxiliary Forces (antiriot police), agents of the Real Gendarmerie and the Urban Groups of Security, and up until now they have arrested sixty people.

At 10.30 gmt those arrested were still kept in one zone next to the border fence and - according to EFE- are going to be transferred to the dependencies of the real Gendarmerie of Tanger. Of those detained, 51 are from sub-Sahara, their specific nationalities are not known, and other 9 are Algerians.
In the wooded zone of Ben tree Yunech there are still hundreds of people in the makeshift campings where they have been for months with the hope of one day being able to enter the city of Ceuta.

Not surpraisingly, due to the heavy police presence and to the situation of the last few days, sub-Saharan citizens explained that in contrast to other times, the raid happened without big struggle. According to some of the immigrants who still remain in the zone, the police pressure, the deaths that have taken place in the last hours and the fact that they feel exhausted, have made them surrendered to the Moroccan police without resistance.

sara