A rights group has accused Morocco’s security forces of using “unjustified” violence against migrants trying to force their way through a border fence between the North African country and the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Deutsche Welle reports that around 2,000 people attempted to storm the border fence on Friday June 24, 2022. They were stopped by security forces on either side of the barrier.

France 24 reports that at least 23 African migrants died in the incident.

Morocco’s state news agency MAP said dozens of migrants and 140 members of the security forces were injured on its side of the border.

Amin Abidar, a spokesperson for the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH), said the migrants had been “mistreated” by Moroccan security forces during the border rush. He described how migrants had been left trapped on the ground for hours without medical assistance. Al Jazeera reports that human rights groups in Morocco and Spain have called for an investigation into the deaths.

Melilla, along with fellow Spanish exclave Ceuta, are the European Union’s only two borders with the African continent. In recent years, both towns have regularly seen border incidents involving migrants trying to reach the bloc. Thousands of people, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, often wait close to the borders for a chance to enter the EU.