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IMMIGRATION

Over 1,200 migrants rescued off Spanish coast in two days

Spain said Saturday it had rescued more than 1,200 migrants from the sea in two days as the country's interior minister called for a European-wide solution to illegal immigration.

Published: 29 July 2018 11:47 CEST
Over 1,200 migrants rescued off Spanish coast in two days
Migrants rescued at sea wait to be transferred at the harbour of Algeciras on July 28th, 2018. Photo: AFP

Fernando Grande-Marlaska said Spain had now seen “on the ground, the problems that exist, the problem of immigration which is a European problem which requires a European solution”, following a visit to the southwestern Cadiz region.

The minister was on a fact-finding visit to learn how police and the Red Cross are dealing with the influx of migrants.

Earlier Saturday, the maritime rescue service said on Twitter it had rescued 334 people from 17 boats.

On Friday coastguards picked up 888 people in a single day.

“It was to be expected,” minister Grande-Marlaska said, criticising the previous conservative government of Mariano Rajoy for a “lack of foresight”.

He said the government was working against the clock to open “a centre” in the port of Andalusia with room for 600 people.

Earlier this week, more than 600 African migrants reached the Spanish territory of Ceuta after storming a double border fence with Morocco and attacking police.

The scramble over the barbed wire-decked barrier on Thursday is the biggest in Ceuta since February 2017, when more than 850 migrants entered the Spanish overseas territory over four days.

The incident further increases pressure on Spain, which has now surpassed Italy as the number one destination for migrants crossing the Mediterranean by boat.

More than 19,580 people have landed on Spanish shores so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.

READ ALSO: Violence at Ceuta fence as 600 migrants storm border

CRIME

Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Germany said Tuesday it was considering allowing deportations to Afghanistan, after an asylum seeker from the country injured five and killed a police officer in a knife attack.

Published: 4 June 2024 14:50 CEST
Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Officials had been carrying out an “intensive review for several months… to allow the deportation of serious criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told journalists.

“It is clear to me that people who pose a potential threat to Germany’s security must be deported quickly,” Faeser said.

“That is why we are doing everything possible to find ways to deport criminals and dangerous people to both Syria and Afghanistan,” she said.

Deportations to Afghanistan from Germany have been completely stopped since the Taliban retook power in 2021.

But a debate over resuming expulsions has resurged after a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of attacking people with a knife at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim on Friday.

A police officer, 29, died on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack.

Five people taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were also wounded.

Friday’s brutal attack has inflamed a public debate over immigration in the run up to European elections and prompted calls to expand efforts to expel criminals.

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

The suspect, named in the media as Sulaiman Ataee, came to Germany as a refugee in March 2013, according to reports.

Ataee, who arrived in the country with his brother at the age of only 14, was initially refused asylum but was not deported because of his age, according to German daily Bild.

Ataee subsequently went to school in Germany, and married a German woman of Turkish origin in 2019, with whom he has two children, according to the Spiegel weekly.

Per the reports, Ataee was not seen by authorities as a risk and did not appear to neighbours at his home in Heppenheim as an extremist.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday took over the investigation into the incident, as they looked to establish a motive.

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