At Least 23 Asylum Seekers Killed Attempting to Cross from Morocco to Spanish Enclave

At least 23 people seeking refuge in Europe have died at a border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla. Many were beaten by Moroccan forces. Others died in a stampede. One NGO group put the death toll at at least 37. The deaths occurred when as many 2,000 asylum seekers attempted to cross from Morocco into Spain on Friday morning. Video shows hundreds of people lying on the ground, many motionless, near the border fence as Moroccan security forces looked on. The Moroccan Human Rights Association said the bodies of both the injured and the dead were left on the ground for hours and that Moroccan forces buried people without identifying them or conducting autopsies to determine the cause of death.