More than 800 people have illegally entered the Spanish North African exclave of Melilla within a 24-hour period, according to official figures. A total of about 3,700 people had tried to climb over the 6-metre-high border fences from Morocco, the government in Madrid announced. Despite fierce resistance from border officials, 491 migrants had managed to do so on Wednesday – with a further 350 doing so on Thursday – by using what the authorities in Madrid described as “extreme force.” They characterized the situation as a “crisis of major proportions.” A total of 43 Spanish Civil Guard officer…