New incident in one of the asylum rooms in Barajas. Four immigrants seeking asylum in Spain, of Moroccan nationality, They escaped yesterday evening from asylum room 3 at Madrid airportas confirmed by sources from the Ministry of Interior and the United Police Union (SUP). The individuals managed to escape through the air conditioning duct and, as of early Wednesday, authorities have not yet found their trace and they remain on the run.
The Moroccans involved in the escape escaped through the roof and were seen on the roof of the building, according to ‘Vozpópuli’ and ABC was able to confirm this. Despite search efforts, the National Police were unable to locate the subjects and opened an investigation to clarify what could have happened to allow them to escape, endangering the security of a critical structure like the Barajas airport.
Last September, in this same room of Terminal 1, a group of asylum seekers of Mauritanian origin participated in a “riot” and another escape attempt after learning that their request had been refused and that they would be deported to their country of origin. Those involved managed to break the magnet on the exit door and gain access to the landing, which forced the Police to send reinforcements from the Prevention and Reaction Units (UPR).
This type of incident demonstrates, as the SUP considers, “that the structures provided by the AENA to keep these people during their stay in the asylum rooms are totally insufficient and dangerous”. He also criticized the fact that “we cannot work in these conditions, without safety measures and without adequate conditions”, and warned that such leaks can “cause a critical security incident“and that they can “move freely” around the facilities, go out onto the slopes or into other spaces “in which they could endanger safety.”
Police union sources said that at present they rooms 3 and 4 are open, which are fixed, in addition to room 1, a temporary space which is activated “when there is a certain crowd”. Concretely, in room 3, there remain 46 asylum seekers and 27 inadmissible persons; while in room 4 there are 78 people. For its part, in room 1, there are currently 18 minors and 52 women.
Failed eviction attempt
The Barajas asylum rooms were protagonists last week after the Interior Ministry announced that ten of its occupants, also Moroccan citizens, who in this case declared that they were “Sahrawi activists persecuted», they would be sent back to Morocco because they did not meet the authorization conditions to enter Spain. Some of these citizens holding Moroccan passports, after being refused asylum, decided to begin a hunger strike as a measure of political pressure.
Podemos and Sumar showed up and several of their deputies tried to enter the asylum rooms without the necessary authorization to be able to monitor the condition of these people who claimed to be Sahrawi. Those of Ione Belarra demanded that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, disavow the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and that he “urgently tackle” the situation of asylum seekers. ERC and Bildu, for their part, requested the appearance of the Minister of the Interior and “an immediate halt” to the expulsions.
Ultimately, the Marlaska department did not give in and attempted to expel on Monday some of the 40 citizens holding Moroccan passports who remained in the Barajas asylum rooms. Several of them refused to board and resisted boarding the plane which was to take them back to Morocco, according to police sources. The captain of the plane, since it is a commercial flight and taking into account the risk to the safety of the rest of the travelers, refused to board the plane and were taken back to the airport asylum rooms.
Union sources recalled that, although they declare themselves Saharawis, “this does not necessarily make them such and should not necessarily be persecuted by Morocco”; and warned that they could use “stratagems” to enter and remain in Spain, thus incurring a Fraud in international protection law. The SUP asked the competent authorities to require a transit visa for Moroccan citizens, but also for Egyptians, because “they take the same route and the same operating mode as Moroccans.”
