Marlaska reiterates the defense of the action on the Melilla fence without giving the death toll of migrants and police

SAN LORENZO DE EL ESCORIAL, July 4. (EUROPE PRESS) -

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, reiterated this Monday his speech in defense of the police action at the Melilla fence on June 24, although he avoided specifying data on the number of deaths between migrants and Moroccan policemen, nor respond if you are in favor, as several parliamentary partners ask you, to publish the recorded images of the incident on the border perimeter.

"At all times, action has been taken in accordance with legal, national and international parameters, in terms of the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, with proportionality and adaptation to the specific situation and in those terms," ​​said Grande-Marlaska. The action, questioned in Congress, has motivated the opening of investigations by the Prosecutor's Office and the Ombudsman.

As on previous occasions, the Minister of the Interior has lamented in a general way the deaths of at least 23 migrants, as recognized by the Moroccan authorities, although he has avoided giving details on matters demanded by parliamentary groups related, for example, to the rejection at the border from the Spanish side of gendarmes from the neighboring country acting together with the Civil Guard.

"Let's not draw too early or premature conclusions about what happened," he responded to questions from the press after opening a course at the Complutense University in San Lorenzo de El Escorial on Police training.

Immediately afterwards, Grande-Marlaska reiterated that he regrets the deaths and has shown his solidarity with the families of migrants, in addition to expressing his support for the 60 injured civil guards, "some of them of a certain entity and still in the recovery phase", or the more than 140 Moroccan gendarmes who were also injured.

The minister has avoided answering about deceased gendarmes from the neighboring country, as the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, did last week in an interview.

"We cannot ignore, and no one has questioned that, that it was a violent attack on the Spanish borders, which are the European borders. A democratic State cannot allow violent attacks on its borders, nor aggression or violation of the physical integrity of our security forces and bodies", he concluded.