Migrants fleeing Syria and Africa risk injury to enter Melilla, the gateway to Europe – in pictures

An aerial view of Spain's north African exclave of Melilla and northern Morocco. Armed guards and razor wire along the 12km (7.5 mile) frontier around the town have long discouraged Africans fleeing poverty and conflict from seeing Melilla as a gateway to Europe – just 180km away across open water. But desperation has driven many migrants to gather at the gates, turning the port town of 80,000 into a pressure point for people trying to reach mainland Europe Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

African migrants watch for police near a clandestine campsite in northern Morocco, close to the border with Melilla Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

The Moroccan city of Nador, and mount Gurugu, can be seen in the background as people play on a golf course in Melilla Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

A barbed-wire fence runs between Morocco and Melilla along the 12km border Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

Serge, 28, from Cameroon, looks out for police as he returns to a secret campsite in northern Morocco. He is carrying blankets collected from a Spanish-operated immigrants' association near Melilla Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

Serge holds baby Kader as they stand with other African migrants at a campsite in the woods Photograph: JUAN MEDINA/REUTERS

Marie, a migrant from Cameroon, prepares dinner at the campsite Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

Cisse Tiemouko, from Ivory Coast, warms himself by a fire. Melilla, seen by many as a gateway to Europe, is located in north-west Africa, next to the Alboran Sea and across the waters from the Spanish provinces of Granada and Almería Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

A Moroccan man climbs along a wall overlooking Melilla harbour as a ship prepares to leave for mainland Spain. The Spanish enclave has a hybrid status as an EU territory that does not enjoy the region's borderless travel rights. Many Moroccans attempt to make the crossing to mainland Spain from Melilla Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

A video-still taken by the Spanish interior ministry shows two groups of prospective migrants walking in single file from Gurugu, along the border between Morocco, and the Spanish territory of Melilla on 16 December 2013. Spanish authorities say more than 1,000 people were turned back in a combined effort with Moroccan police during their attempt to enter Spain Photograph: Guardia Civil/AFP/Getty Images

Khedidja Azzouz, 24, an Algerian, is pregnant and homeless. She is standing in a rubbish-strewn area in Melilla Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

Malian migrants pass the time in Melilla Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

Syrian families sit outside a refugee centre in Melilla Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters