MADRID — Moroccan demonstrators protesting the alleged mistreatment of migrants blocked a Spanish enclave in North Africa Thursday, keeping out fish, fruit, vegetables and construction materials, officials said.
The dispute between the two traditional allies simmered despite intervention by their kings to calm tempers.
A senior police official in the enclave of Melilla who visited the border crossing said the protesters were preventing dozens of trucks from entering.
He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.
Footage shown on Spanish television showed dozens of protesters gathered on the Moroccan side of the dusty border crossing, one of them speaking over a bullhorn.
Melilla is a centuries-old Spanish city of some 70,000 people on Morocco's northern coast. It depends heavily on Morocco for many products that are trucked in, and 35,000 Moroccans cross daily to work or shop. Morocco claims the city and another North African enclave of Spain, Ceuta, as its own _ but Spain rejects any talk of giving up the cities.
Over the past three weeks Morocco has made five complaints alleging mistreatment of its citizens by Spanish police at the Melilla border crossing. Moroccan officials accused the Spanish coast guard of abandoning a group of ailing migrants off the Moroccan coast. Spain has denied any mistreatment.
Spain and Morocco are key allies, cooperating closely on fighting Islamist terrorism and preventing illegal immigration.
While the blockade could prompt shortages of some products in Melilla if it continues, the people living there won't starve. Much of Melilla's food is shipped in from Spain.
Relations are generally good, but periodically suffer from tension. The most serious break came in 2002, when the nations edged close to armed confrontation after a handful of Moroccan troops occupied a rocky Spanish island off the Moroccan coast inhabited by goats. Spain sent warships to the area, and the standoff ended a short time later after the United States pressed both countries to resolve their differences.
In 2005, another crisis emerged when several thousand destitute African migrants trying to make their way to Europe clambered over razor-wire fences into Melilla and Ceuta.
The blockade came a day after Spanish King Juan Carlos phoned his Moroccan counterpart, Mohammed VI, in an attempt to ease the latest tensions.
The Spanish royal palace said the two monarchs reaffirmed the "excellent state of relations" between their countries and promised to work to ensure that "small problems or misunderstandings do not upset this climate."
The official Moroccan news agency MAP confirmed the call and said the two kings agreed to meet at an unspecified date.
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