“They are all from sub-Saharan Africa, the majority from Guinea,” a spokesman for the central government’s office in Ceuta told AFP.   

They broke through the barbed wire fence bordering Morocco early Friday morning, taking advantage of misty conditions, slightly hurting 12 police officers who tried to stop them, he said.

Several migrants were treated for cuts.   

Spanish media said some of them jumped over while the majority broke through a door in the fence.

This is the first time in a year that migrants have managed to storm the barbed wire fence that separates Ceuta from Morocco as a group, the spokesman said.

Spain’s two North African enclaves, Melilla and Ceuta, have the European Union’s only land borders with Africa.

Since the start of the year, 3,427 migrants have entered these two cities, 18.1 percent less than in 2018, according to the latest interior ministry figures.

Of these, 671 arrived in Ceuta.   

Once on Spanish territory, they are usually taken to a migrant reception centre where they can ask for asylum.

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