Protest in Barcelona over Melilla migrant deaths

Описание: (1 Jul 2022)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Barcelona - 1 July 2022
1. Various of protesters assembling, carrying banners saying (Spanish) "Black Lives Matter", "Against the massacre in Melilla" and "They weren't deaths, they were murders by European colonialism"
2. Various of protesters marching through downtown
3. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Nfaly Faty, Senegalese immigrant and activist
"We can't say that the problem is the whole of society. We see many people who aren't Black, marching in support of us. Most of them Spaniards. The problem isn't between people, but rather about the governments."
4. Various of protest
5. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Carlotta Schiavone, 23-year-old student
"I think this isn't right. I think all lives have equal value, regardless of the colour of their skin. So news about this should have the same impact, regardless of the the victims' ethnicity."
6. Cutaway to protest
7. SOUNDBITE: (Catalan) Felix Raval, 62-year-old pensioner
"This is repulsive. This isn't normal. Ukrainians are treated in a certain way but they (Black people) receive a different treatment. It isn't right and logical."
8. Cutaway
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Victoria Muñoz, protester
"The Spanish president (of the government, ie prime minister) confirmed the version that the Moroccan police were together in order to protect the so-called Spanish borders. This is not what I think. This is what happened: In order to protect their borders, they killed a lot of Black people. They continue and will continue to kill people. Because this is how Spain works."
10. Mid of woman singing "Amazing Grace"
11. Mid of protesters chanting "Black meat is the cheapest meat in the market"
12. Cutaway to protesters raising fist in silence
STORYLINE:
Thousands of people took to the street across Spain on Friday to protest the deaths of at least 23 people at the border between the Spanish enclave of Melilla and Morocco.
In Barcelona, demonstrators - including many from the African diaspora - marched through the centre of the city, chanting against racism and colonialism.  
The demonstrations were held under the moniker "Las Vidas Negras Importan", or "Black Lives Matter".  
The deaths occurred on June 24, during repeated attempts by sub-Saharan migrants and asylum seekers to scale the border fence.  
Hundreds tried to attempt to scale or break through the 12-metre (29-feet) iron double fence that surrounds Melilla, a town of 85,000 separated from the Spanish mainland by the Strait of Gibraltar.
Morocco's Human Rights Association has contested the official death toll, reporting instead that 27 migrants had died.
The Spanish non-governmental organisation Walking Borders, meanwhile, reported 37 fatalities.
Moroccan authorities said the migrants died as a result of a stampede.
But many protesters during Friday's march in Barcelona blamed the excessive crackdown by police on both sides.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has defended the way Moroccan and Spanish officers repelled the migrants, calling the attempt “an attack on Spain’s borders”.
The victims of the incident have yet to be identified.
Morocco’s Human Rights Association says it has been contacted by the families of young men from Sudan believed to be among the victims.
However, it has not been allowed to see the bodies or the dozens of injured migrants being treated at a local hospital.
Violence and political turmoil in Sudan have pushed thousands of Sudanese to seek asylum in Europe, including in Spain.
On top of this a third of Sudan's population currently face a hunger crisis.
AP VIDEO SHOT BYJaume Cervera
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