In the 24 hours before Thursday morning, 379 refugees from West Africa landed on the beaches of the Canary Islands, despite a European Union force sent to the area to halt the influx of illegal immigrants, DPA QUOTED THE Spanish media AS SAYING. The would-be immigrants arrived on the islands of Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Gomera on four boats, the reports said. Since the beginning of August, some 3,000 boat refugees have landed on the autonomous Spanish island group off the west coast of Africa, 10 times the number in the whole of August 2005. Canary Islands President Adan Martin complained that the EU had not given the immigration force, named Hera-II, enough money to do its job and had sent it to the area too late to carry out its mission. The EU has provided two ships and two aircraft to support Spain in its battle against illegal immigration. Spain's opposition leader Mariano Rajoy has demanded a special session of parliament on the issue. Spain had become a "paradise of illegal immigration" the conservative People's Party (PP) boss said. Rajoy also indicated that thousands of "illegals" were entering Spain each month via Gerona airport in the north-east of the country. Only two immigration police officers work each shift at Gerona airport, El Mundo newspaper reported, with 12,000 passengers arriving at the airport each day.
