![African migrants sit atop a border fence, as Spanish Civil Guard officers stand underneath, during an attempt to cross into Spanish territories, between Morocco and Spain's north African enclave of Melilla on October 16, 2014 [Reuters]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/melilla-migrants-e1515421547135.jpg?fit=1199%2C799&ssl=1)
Over 209 sub-Saharan African migrants stormed the Spanish enclave of Melilla over the weekend, according to officials.
A total of 209 sub-Saharan migrants attempted to reach Europe by forcing their way through the fence, injuring a police officer in the scuffle, according to a statement released by the central government’s representative office in Melilla.
The police officer was reportedly injured when he was “attacked by an immigrant with one of the hooks they use to clamber up the fence”; two six-metre-high barriers with steel cables.
Read: Morocco thwarts 55,000 illegal migration attempts in 2017
Four migrants were sent to hospital to be treated for minor injuries and then taken to a migrant detention centre with the rest of the group.
Melilla is often used by sub-Saharan migrants as a base to get into Europe from countries like Morocco. Thousands have attempted the journey over the years through the frontier between Melilla and Morocco by climbing the fence, swimming the coast or hiding in vehicles.
Nearly 22,900 migrants made the crossing in 2017, according to EU border agency Frontex, more than double the figures recorded in 2016.
Twenty-five people reportedly drowned in a shipwreck off Libya on Saturday after a dinghy capsized making it the first shipwreck of 2018. Last year, over 3,116 people died attempting to cross to Europe from North Africa to Europe, according to Doctors Without Borders.