Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-20220702

A30 world news
Diasabra 2 Juli 2022

Thousands protest migrant deaths at Spain-Morocco border

Videos and photos that Morocco's Human Rights
emerged in the days follow- Association contested the
ing the deaths sparked out- official death toll, report-
rage and condemnation by ing instead that 27 migrants
several human rights groups had died, while the Spanish
and officials, including the NGO Walking Borders is re-
United Nations secretary- porting 37 fatalities.
general. Authorities in Morocco and
Spain also reported that 140
In one video shared by the security officers on the Mo-
Moroccan Human Rights roccan side and 60 National
Association dozens of young Police and Civil Guard of-
African men, some of them ficers on the Spanish side,
motionless and bleeding, are were injured.
seen strewn on the ground In an exclusive interview
as Moroccan security forces with the Associated Press,
stand over them. One uni- Spain's Prime Minister Pe-
formed man is seen poking a dro Sánchez defended the
body with his baton. way Moroccan and Spanish
police handled the incident,
In another video a group of calling the attempt "an attack
migrants is seen climbing a on Spain's borders."
fence, some hurling rocks Meanwhile, the dead have
at Moroccan anti-riot police yet to be identified.
trying to stop them. At one
(AP) — Thousands of asylum seekers to scale the a protester of African descent. point, the fence collapses, Omar Naji of Morocco's
people in several Span- border fence separating the sending them to the ground Human Rights Association
ish cities protested Friday territories. Moroccan au- In Rabat, the capital of Mo- from a height of several me- in Nador said they have been
over the deaths of at least thorities said the migrants rocco, some 40 people held ters. contacted by the families of
23 migrants last week at died as a result of a stampede placards splashed with red "I am shocked by the vio- young men from Sudan be-
the frontier between the but protesters are blaming of- paint, emulating blood to lence on the Nador-Melilla lieved to be among the vic-
Spanish enclave of Melilla ficialsand Europe's migration demand justice for the dead border," U.N. chief Antonio tims but have not been al-
in Africa and Morocco, policies. migrants. Guterres tweeted this week. lowed to see the bodies or the
amid growing calls for an "The least we can do is voice "The use of excessive force is dozens of injured migrants
independent, cross-bor- In Madrid, demonstrators our outrage and demand that unacceptable, and the human being treated at a local hos-
der investigation. filled Callao square and held the Moroccan state stop act- rights and dignity of people pital.
signs that read "Borders Kill" ing as Europe's border police, on the move must be priori-
The demonstrations were and "No human being is il- because through this nefari- tized by countries." Violence and political tur-
being held under the moni- legal." In Barcelona, par- ous activity it is accountable moil in Sudan have pushed
ker "Las Vidas Negras Im- ticipants marched as they for what occurred last Friday," Spain's state prosecutors an- thousands of Sudanese to
portan" in Spanish or "Black chanted against racism and said Al-Tayeb Madmadh, nounced the launch of a seek asylum in Europe, in-
Lives Matter" in English. colonialism. a member of the Moroc- probe "to clarify what hap- cluding in Spain. On top of
The deaths occurred June 24 "In order to protect their bor- can Association for Human pened" given the "signifi- this a third of Sudan's popu-
during repeated attempts by ders they killed a lot of Black Rights and one of the protest cance and seriousness" of the lation currently face a hunger
sub-Saharan migrants and people," said Victoria Muñoz, organizers. events at the Melilla border. crisis.

EU prepares emergency plan to do without Russian energy

(AP) — The European Union's sian energy supply and to do it "in a erEU, and therefore, of course, we help the 27 EU countries start wean-
executive arm on Friday pledged smart way" as well as to rally around count on your presidency to reach ing themselves off Russian fossil fuels
to draft an emergency plan this EU countries facing supply squeezes. rapidly agreement on the adoption of this year. The goal is to deprive Rus-
month aimed at helping member the REPowerEU regulation," von der sia, the EU's main supplier of oil, nat-
countries do without Russian en- "We need a good, common plan that Leyen told the Czech premier. ural gas and coal, of tens of billions in
ergy in the wake of the Kremlin's the energy flows, or the gas flows, revenue and strengthen EU climate
war in Ukraine. where it is needed most," von der This investment initiative is meant to policies.
Leyen said.
European Commission President She said the plan would be devel-
Ursula von der Leyen said the ini- oped in coordination with the Czech
tiative would build on EU moves to government, whose prime minis-
ditch Russian coal, oil and natural gas ter highlighted the political pressure
and would complement a bloc-wide across the EU to act.
push to accelerate the development "Energy prices are suffocating our
of renewable energy such as wind and economy," Premier Petr Fiala said
solar power. alongside von der Leyen. "This is our
"We are preparing emergency plans biggest test for the coming months."
for Europe," von der Leyen said in
the Czech town of Litomysl, where The commission announced in May
she marked the start of the country's a plan dubbed REPowerEU to aban-
six-month stint as holder of the rotat- don Russian energy amid the Krem-
ing EU presidency. "Energy prices are lin's war in Ukraine, proposing a
high. People -- rightly so -- expect us nearly 300 billion-euro ($312 billion)
to do something about it." package that includes more efficient
use of fuels and faster rollout of re-
She said the contingency plan, due newable power.
around mid-July, would focus on two "The next step is to make available to
key points including having a "clear the EU member states the 300 billion
idea" of where to cut back on Rus- euros that come along with REPpow-