Spanish interior minister defends use of razor wire

Spain's Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz on Thursday announced he would consider retiring the concertina razor wire which guards the frontiers of the city of Melilla if it could be shown that it broke European Union (EU) legislation. The wire has been criticized by humans rights groups as its blades has been shown to produce deep cuts in many of those who have tried to scale it. Diaz underlined that for the moment, he was unaware of anything to say the wire was illegal, adding that other EU states also used it to protect their boundaries. Diaz claimed the wire is a "passive method and not aggressive or dissuasive" to halt potential illegal immigrants. "We do not know of any EU legislation which forbids it," said Diaz, who added Spain had not been shown "a better system which is as effective and at the same time can be shown to not violate any EU legislation." In a separate incident, around 250 sub-Saharan immigrants attempted to force entry into the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta in the early hours of Thursday morning, according to Spanish police. The efforts of the immigrants were resisted by the Moroccan forces and those of the Spanish Civil Guard and National Police. Police were required to use "maximum force" in order to stop the attempted entry which took place where work was being carried out on a new frontier post on the border between Ceuta and Morocco. Moroccan forces made 70 arrests in the group, whose remaining members sought refuge among their companions who are camping out in the hills surrounding Ceuta, awaiting a chance to get into the city.