MADRID: More than
150 migrants forced their way into Spain's overseas territory of Ceuta on
Friday, hours after 540 people alighted in Greece as pressure on southern
European states continues despite an overall drop in arrivals. The mass
arrivals come after several charity ships that rescued migrants off the coast
of Libya were denied access to Italian ports by outgoing hardline interior
minister Matteo Salvini.

On Friday,
another such vessel belonging to charity Mediterranea Saving Humans warned of
an impending health emergency on board as it was stuck at sea after being
banned from entering Italian waters. According to the latest data from the
International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 46,500 people had
crossed the Mediterranean to Europe this year to August 28 and another 909 died
in the attempt.

This marks a drop
from the same period last year when over 68,000 people crossed and 1,562 died.
But southern European nations still bear the brunt of these arrivals. On
Thursday, Spain's acting deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo said Europe should
step in more. "The countries that don't have maritime borders also need to
assume shared responsibility," she told lawmakers.

Climbing the
fence

In Spain's north
African enclave of Ceuta early on Friday, taking advantage of misty weather,
155 migrants stormed the barbed wire border that separates it from Morocco.
Some of them clambered over while others broke through a door in the fence.
"They are all from sub-Saharan Africa, the majority from Guinea," a
spokesman for the central government's office in Ceuta told AFP. Ceuta and
Melilla, another Spanish enclave, represent the European Union's only lander
borders with Africa.

All in all,
though, the number of migrants arriving in both cities this year has dropped to
just over 18 percent to 3,427 compared with 2018, according to the latest
interior ministry figures. This is the first time in a year that migrants have
managed to storm the barbed wire fence in Ceuta as a group, the spokesman said.

Once on Spanish
territory, they are usually taken to a migrant reception centre where they can
ask for asylum. But Madrid has been known to send migrants back to Morocco. In
August last year, Spain sent back 116 migrants who had forced their way into
Ceuta in a mass expulsion condemned by human rights activists. It is as yet
unclear what will happen in this case.

'Unprecedented
rise'

In Greece,
meanwhile, around 540 migrants arrived Thursday evening on the island of Lesbos
on board 13 boats from nearby Turkey, including 240 children. They were
transferred to the cramped Moria migrant camp where there are "nearly
11,000 people for a capacity of just 3,000," medical charity Doctors without
Borders (MSF) said.

A Greek
diplomatic source, who refused to be named, said Athens had informed the
European Union about this "unprecedented rise" in the number of
migrants. Greece has overtaken Spain this year to become the main entry point
for migrants seeking to get to Europe. At least 23,200 people have arrived by
sea so far this year, according to the IOM.

'Urgent request'

Over near Italy,
Mediterranea Saving Humans said it had 34 migrants on board its ship after 64
vulnerable people it had rescued, including women and children, were
disembarked on Thursday. It said it had sent a "new urgent request"
for a safe port after being refused access to Italian waters. This comes at a
period of political limbo in Italy, as the premier designate rushes to form a
new left-leaning coalition which could alter Salvini's hardline stance on
immigrants.

Earlier this
month, Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms faced a similar predicament when Italy
refused its ship permission to dock. The dozens of migrants on board remained
stuck at sea for days until an Italian prosecutor ordered they disembark on the
island of Lampedusa. Spain agreed to take in 15 of those migrants as part of a
deal with France, Germany, Portugal and Luxembourg to share out the new
arrivals.- AFP