On January 28, more than 200 Tunisian migrants, including women, launched a hunger strike, at the reception centre in the Spanish-controlled city of Mellila, to protest against their living conditions and to demand official authorities to finalise their asylum files and allow them entrance into Spain.
Informigrants.net reported that the hunger strikers are amongst a larger group of Tunisian migrants, amounting to about 800 migrants, who arrived at the city of Mellila through the Moroccan territories in unregulated migration operation since 2018.
Protesters stated that they are staying in plastic tents, and that their general conditions are very poor.
“Especially because it is winter, it becomes very difficult for families with children to secure the minimum requirements for a decent life in such conditions. Not to mention the severe overcrowding conditions that we suffer here, the center’s maximum capacity is 500 people, but there are more than 2,000 immigrants here, "said one of the migrants according to infomigrants.net.
Ramadan Bin Omar, who is in charge of the migration question at the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, said earlier that "the rise in the number of Tunisian irregular migrants in Melilla is due to the Spanish authorities preventing these migrants from crossing into the Spanish mainland and from there to Europe, as authorities figured out that migrants are searching for temporary residence until they manage to reach other European countries”.
He explained that "due to the center of Melilla having already exceeded its capacity, Spanish authorities have established surrounding camps exposed to the weather conditions. And these migrants are demanding that they be given an opportunity to pass to Europe."
The immigrants had started a march two weeks ago from the reception center to the city center in Melilla, with more than 700 irregular immigrants from different nationalities participating in it, demanding to improve their living conditions and allow them to complete their path towards Spain.
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