Up to 70 African would-be immigrants to Europe on Sunday tried to push through a border post of the Spanish enclave of Melilla in Morocco, but most of them were repulsed, Spanish authorities said.

The Africans were seeking to start news lives in Europe and tried to force their way past border guards on the North African coast on Sunday.

 

"Between 60 and 70 people from sub-Saharan Africa tried to force their way into Melilla at dawn through the Beni-Enzar border post," the local Melilla authorities said in a statement.

 

"The majority of them were pushed back by security forces," it said, adding that "the situation is normal on the border."

 

But several border guards suffered injuries, the statement said.