On June 24, 2022, around 1,500 migrants tried to force their way into the Spanish border post of Barrio Chino in Melilla, northern Morocco. 24 people died according to the authorities, at least 27 and more than 50 missing according to human rights associations. To commemorate this tragedy, the Maghreb Social Forum for Migration organized its first edition since 2018 in Nador, just a few kilometers from the Melilla border post.
A year later, questions are still swirling around in the heads of associations and NGOs who have returned to Nador to defend the rights of migrants. The Spanish justice closed its investigation and on the Moroccan side, only migrants were sentenced to prison for violence and degradation.
“ During these events, there were situations that we still continue to deplore. There have been arrests. There were wounded and displaced who are abandoned to their sad fate. And so, until today, the families of victims continue to demand information on the real causes of these macabre acts which occurred on June 24, 2022. “recalls Francky Hangar, Secretary General of the Democratic Organization of Immigrant Workers in Morocco.
For Kamel Larbi, organizer of the forum, it is necessary that the Moroccan authorities provide more information to understand the origins of the drama. ” What is surprising is that the Moroccan security services were unable to detect this movement in time, even though they are efficient. What happened ? We would have liked to have an answer, we do not have it yet. But 2000 people attacking serious, buckled, almost impassable fences. This is not a trivial phenomenon and we should be able to have an explanation. »
Many here describe the violence that followed as massacres and demand that measures be taken in Morocco and Europe so that the tragedy of Barrio Chino never happens again.
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