Human rights campaigners in Morocco and Spain have called on Spanish authorities to launch an investigation after a video appeared to show a Spanish police boat briefly mounting a small dinghy carrying people towards the coast of Spain.
The incident took place on Sunday as a vessel carrying four people approached the Spanish semi-exclave of Melilla. The video appeared to show the larger, more powerful Guardia Civil patrol boat veering towards the Zodiac inflatable, making several manoeuvres before skimming over the top of the boat, causing at least one person to fall out of the small vessel.
Speaking to Spanish media, police said nobody had been hurt or injured and added that those on the smaller vessel had been trying to enter Spain irregularly.
El momento en el que la Guardia Civil pasa por encima de la lancha en la que hay 4 personas. pic.twitter.com/0zpobU0EAk
— Youssef M. Ouled (@ymouled) August 26, 2024
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights said police in Morocco had also confirmed that there had been no deaths stemming from the incident. It said in a social media post that described the Spanish intervention as “violent and dangerous” that a source had told them that the four onboard were safe and had been arrested.
It added in a later update that the four had been handed over to Moroccan officials. “Yet no investigation has been opened to date on the Spanish side,” it noted. “The Spaniards are totally responsible and must take responsibility for opening an investigation.”
On Tuesday the Melilla-based NGO Solidary Wheels echoed the call for Spain to open an investigation, in a statement that called for a “detailed explanation” of the actions of the Guardia Civil force, which patrols Spain’s ports, roads and borders.
Leftwing politicians in Spain also began weighing in, calling on the interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to address the incident. “What we have seen in Melilla is a disgrace and totally unacceptable,” Aina Vidal, a spokesperson for the leftwing alliance Sumar, told reporters on Tuesday.
Jon Iñarritu, of the leftwing Basque coalition EH Bildu, described the incident as a “savage deed” on social media as he announced plans to urgently request the interior minister to appear before a parliamentary commission in order to explain Spain’s response to the incident.
Speaking to the news agency Europa Press, a source with the interior ministry said it was not contemplating opening any kind of internal investigation into the incident.
