MADRID: Ten of the more than 600 migrants who forced their way into the Spanish territory of Ceuta last month by violently storming a heavily fortified border fence with Morocco were arrested Tuesday, police said.
The 10 sub-Saharan African migrants, who were arrested at an immigrant holding center in Ceuta, are accused of belonging to a criminal organization, assaulting a police officer and causing damage, Spain’s Guardia Civil said in a statement.
Among those arrested is the suspected head of the group that led the coordinated assault on the border on July 26 in which 22 police officers were injured, it added.
The man, who is from Togo, “offered strong resistance during his detention causing light injuries” to a police officer, the statement said.
Two of the other arrested men are from Cameroon, with the rest from Guinea.
Pictures released by police showed the men being escorted by armed officers into a green and white police van, their hands handcuffed behind their backs.
A total of 602 migrants reached Ceuta last month storming the double border fence and attacking police with caustic quicklime, excrement, stones and sticks.
They even set spray cans on fire, using them as “flame-throwers,” and used saws and shears to cut the fence, according to police.
Police said they seized molotov cocktails as well as several bags with hashish from the migrants who stormed the border.
The scramble over the barbed wire-decked barrier was the biggest in Ceuta since February 2017, when more than 850 migrants entered the overseas territory over four days.
Last week 116 migrants made a similar bid to enter Ceuta but were promptly sent back to Morocco, prompting criticism from human rights groups.
Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s other territory in North Africa, have the European Union’s only land borders with Africa, drawing migrants trying to reach the bloc.
A total of 4,382 migrants have entered the two territories by land since the start of the year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
More than 32,000 migrants have arrived in Spain by sea and land this year, making it the main entry point for migrants arriving in Europe, after Italy and Greece.
Police arrest 10 migrants who stormed Spain-Morocco border
Police arrest 10 migrants who stormed Spain-Morocco border
- The 10 sub-Saharan African migrants are accused of belonging to a criminal organization
- Pictures released by police showed the men being escorted by armed officers into a green and white police van
Uganda partially restores internet after president wins 7th term
- “The internet shutdown implemented two days before the elections limited access to information, freedom of association, curtailed economic activities ... it also created suspicion and mistrust on the electoral process,” the team said in their report
KAMPALA: Ugandan authorities have partially restored internet services late after 81-year-old President Yoweri Museveni won a seventh term to extend his rule into a fifth decade with a landslide victory rejected by
the opposition.
Users reported being able to reconnect to the internet and some internet service providers sent out a message to customers saying the regulator had ordered them to restore services excluding social media.
“We have restored internet so that businesses that rely on internet can resume work,” David Birungi, spokesperson for Airtel Uganda, one of the country’s biggest telecom companies said. He added that the state communications regulator had ordered that social media remain shut down.
The state-run Uganda Communications Commission said it had cut off internet to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks.” The opposition, however, criticized the move saying it was to cement control over the electoral process and guarantee a win for the incumbent.
The electoral body in the East African country on Saturday declared Museveni the winner of Thursday’s poll with 71.6 percent of the vote, while his rival pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine was credited with 24 percent
of the vote.
A joint report from an election observer team from the African Union and other regional blocs criticized the involvement of the military in the election and the authorities’ decision to cut
off internet.
“The internet shutdown implemented two days before the elections limited access to information, freedom of association, curtailed economic activities ... it also created suspicion and mistrust on the electoral process,” the team said in their report.
In power since 1986 and currently Africa’s third longest-ruling head of state, Museveni’s latest win means he will have been in power for nearly half a century when his new term ends in 2031.
He is widely thought to be preparing his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to take over from him. Kainerugaba is currently head of the military and has expressed presidential ambitions.
Wine, who was taking on Museveni for a second time, has rejected the results of the latest vote and alleged mass fraud during the election.
Scattered opposition protests broke out late on Saturday after results were announced, according to a witness and police.
In Magere, a suburb in Kampala’s north where Wine lives, a group of youths burned tires and erected barricades in the road prompting police to respond with tear gas.
Police spokesperson Racheal Kawala said the protests had been quashed and that arrests were made but said the number of those detained would be released later.
Wine’s whereabouts were unknown early on Sunday after he said in a post on X he had escaped a raid by the military on his home. People close to him said he remained at an undisclosed location in Uganda. Wine was briefly held under house arrest following the previous election in 2021.
Wine has said hundreds of his supporters were detained during the months leading up to the vote and that others have been tortured.
Government officials have denied those allegations and say those who have been detained have violated the law and will be put through due process.
