Behind them lay the makeshift campgrounds where they had spent months living rough, waiting for the right moment to climb the six-metre, razorwire fence lying between them and their dream of making it to Europe. In front of them lay an immaculately groomed golf course complete with white-clad golfers teeing off.
The two radically different realities, just metres apart, was what greeted a dozen or so migrants caught on the triple fence that marks the border between Spain’s north African enclave of Melilla and Morocco on Wednesday. After 200 had tried to scale the fence, Spain’s interior ministry said 20 people had made it to the enclave and another 70 remained perched on top of the fence for several hours.
The photo was taken by José Palazón, of the migrant rights group Pro.De.In Melilla, after he noticed that some of the migrants had got caught on the fence in the area overlooking the golf course.
“It seemed like a good moment to take a photo that was a bit more symbolic. The photo reflects the situation really well – the differences that exist here and all the ugliness that is happening here,” he told El País newspaper.
Each year thousands of Africans – many of whom have spent years travelling across north and sub-Saharan Africa – try to reach Europe by making it past the fortified fence that separates Morocco from the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta. Many of them spend months living in makeshift camps on the Moroccan side, waiting for the opportunity to rush the fence.
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