Cientos de migrantes se congregan cerca de Nador para cruzar a Melilla
Hundreds of migrants, mostly Sudanese, have been moving for days to towns near Nador to try to cross back into Melilla and dozens of them have been congregating since yesterday on Mount Gurugú near the Spanish city, where Moroccan forces intervened on Saturday.
Two security sources explained to Efe that these people are moving to towns such as Berkan and Uxda (80 and 130 kilometres east of Nador) from other towns in Morocco and are preparing to make a new attempt to cross into Melilla, after the last one on 24 June, in which 23 migrants died.
A Sudanese migrant who took part in that mass crossing on 24 June, in which between 1,700 and 2,000 people took part, confirmed to Efe that the migrant community is preparing a new incursion, in which he has opted not to take part.
The security sources added that these people, who move in groups of less than 30 individuals, mostly left Casablanca and went by public transport to Uxda or Berkan.
According to the sources, the migrants avoid going directly to Nador, a Moroccan town on the border with Melilla, in order to divert the attention of the authorities, and then continue their journey on foot or in private transport to the outskirts of the Spanish city with the help of Sudanese 'guides' who know the area.
The sources fear that some 5,000 people could take part in this mobilisation, which the Moroccan authorities are trying to stop by arresting the migrants and sending them back to the towns in the centre and west of the country from where they left.
In addition, dozens of Sudanese migrants returned in the last 24 hours to congregate on Mount Gurugú, near Melilla, where today there have been clashes with the Moroccan authorities in which four agents were injured, according to local and security sources, who did not specify whether there are any injured among the migrants.
According to local sources, the migrants threw stones at the agents who tried to break up their camp on the hill, where Moroccan riot police went to disperse around a hundred people gathered at that point.