
The European Commission vowed Friday to step up its work with Morocco to fight human smugglers who are using “new, extremely violent methods" — a move that comes two weeks after 23 people died at the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla.
EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson and Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska met with Morocco's Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit in Rabat to discuss the events of June 24, when hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants and asylum-seekers attempted to storm through a border post and scale a border fence into Melilla. In addition to the deaths, some 150 Moroccan and Spanish law enforcement officers and more than 70 civilians were injured.