RABAT: Moroccan police on Saturday said they arrested more than 20 Africans suspected of planning an illegal crossing into Spain, after a deadly attempt last month.
Police from the northern port city of Tangiers disrupted “an illegal immigration attempt and questioned 25 people originally from sub-Saharan Africa,” the DGNS security service said.
It said in a separate statement that “36 homemade metal objects” were seized in a Tangiers shop that could be used for climbing, but did not specify which of two Spanish enclaves was targeted.
Spain’s Ceuta and Melilla enclaves have the EU’s only land borders with Africa.
Last month, at least 23 migrants died while trying to enter Melilla over border fences. They were among around 2,000 migrants, many from Sudan, who tried to break through the border fence, according to Moroccan authorities.
The DGNS said the suspects, living illegally in Morocco, were arrested at a checkpoint at the entrance to Tangiers immediately after they arrived on a public bus.
On Friday, the European Union and Morocco said they would step up cooperation to combat human trafficking.
At a meeting in Rabat, the two sides
“agreed to renew their partnership in order to work together to tackle human smuggling networks, in particular following the emergence of new, extremely violent, methods adopted by such criminal networks,” a joint statement said.
The mass crossing attempt last month led to by far the worst recorded death toll in years of attempts by migrants to enter Ceuta and Melilla.
The June 24 tragedy provoked international indignation, including an unusually strong response from the United Nations against “use of excessive force by the authorities.”
Spain and Morocco have opened investigations.
Non-governmental groups gave a death toll of at least 37, higher than the official figure.
Morocco arrests 25 suspected of planning exit to Spain
https://arab.news/76ds9
Morocco arrests 25 suspected of planning exit to Spain
- "36 homemade metal objects" were seized in a Tangiers shop that could be used for climbing
- Last month, at least 23 migrants died while trying to enter Melilla over border fences
’We can’t make ends meet’: civil servants protest in Ankara
- Some 800 civil servants from the Confederation of Public Employees’ Unions joined a march to the labor ministry
- “The increase in rents is almost three times higher than the pay rise we received,” Kocak told demonstrators
ANKARA: Hundreds of angry civil servants marched through Ankara Wednesday demanding a realistic pay rise as they battle poverty amid the soaring prices and double-digit inflation.
Some 800 civil servants from the Confederation of Public Employees’ Unions (KESK) joined a march to the labor ministry in the Turkish capital, carrying banners demanding an immediate pay rise.
“The increase in rents is almost three times higher than the pay rise we received, meaning our salaries are not even enough to cover the rent increases alone,” Ayfer Kocak, KESK’s co-chair, told demonstrators outside the ministry.
“We are experiencing growing poverty and insecurity.”
Turkiye’s annual inflation rate fell to 30.89 percent in December from 44.38 percent a year earlier, official figures showed, but independent economists and unions say real numbers remain much higher.
According to December figures released by the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TURK-IS), the absolute minimum needed to feed a family of four was just over 30,000 liras ($690).
At the same time, Turkiye’s poverty threshold — the sum required to cover the basic needs for a family of that size — had risen to 98,000 liras ($2,270), it said.
Food inflation approached 43 percent annually, it added.
- ‘We can’t make ends meet’ -
“The government is condemning civil servants to live in degrading conditions by relying on misleading data” from the official statistics agency TUIK, Tulay Yildirim, head of a local teachers’ union branch, told AFP.
“We workers’ voices to be heard, saying we can no longer make ends meet and want to receive our fair share of a budget created through taxes paid by all citizens,” she added.
Earlier this month, public sector wages were hiked by 18.6 percent for the next six months, an increase unions said was insufficient.
“There are not only workers here, but also pensioners. The salary increase granted falls below the poverty line,” said Osman Seheri, head of a local branch of the municipal workers’ union.
“We cannot even afford proper clothes to go to work, let alone a suit and tie. With such wages, it is impossible to live in a major city.”
According to the independent Inflation Research Group (ENAG), which challenges the official data, annual inflation in Turkiye reached 56.14 percent in December 2025, with prices rising 2.11 percent in December alone.
