MADRID: Dozens of people tried to cross from Moro­cco into Spain’s African encl­ave of Melilla on Wednesday, Spanish officials said, with tension running high betw­een the two nations.

Last month, Spain was cau­ght off guard when as many as 10,000 people surged into their other African enclave Ceuta as Moroccan border guards looked the other way.

Roughly 20 people made it to Melilla on Wednesday and two Spanish police officers were slightly injured, a spokesman for the Spanish government’s delegation in Melilla said. “The migrants threw stones at Moroccan security forces who cooperated actively with Spanish security forces to contain the assault,” he said.

Those who got in were taken to a government-run centre for migrants where they will be tested for the coronavirus. On Monday, some 200 people tried to scale the fence with 119 of them making it across.

Migrants routinely try to cross the Moroccan border into Melilla and Spain’s other enclave of Ceuta, which have Europe’s only land crossing with Africa.

They either swim along the coastline, climb border fenc­es or hide in vehicles, in what can be dangerous or deadly attempts to make it to Europe.

Last month’s incident came during a diplomatic crisis over Western Sahara, which has long pushed for independence from Morocco.

Spain had angered Moro­cco by allowing a separatist leader to be treated at a Spanish hospital, and the border breach was widely seen as a punitive move by Rabat.

Although the Polisario leader left Spain on June 2, diplomatic relations have remained tense.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2021