Campaigners demonstrate against killings in Western Sahara
18 November 2010
The protest in the Gdeim Izik camp was the largest organised by the Saharawi since Morocco occupied Western Sahara in 1975. Thousands of Saharawi people had set up the camp to protest against ongoing discrimination and repression at the hands of the Moroccan government. The setting up of camps in the desert, away from the heavily policed urban centres, has become a common recourse used by Saharawi people fearing repression.
On 8 November over 20,000 Saharawi people were forcibly removed from the protest camp located 15 kilometres from the Western Saharan capital El Aaiún. Recent reports suggest that 11 people died and as many as 723 were injured in the attacks. Roughly 160 people are still unaccounted for.
The attacks on Gdeim Izik came just hours before the reopening of informal talks at the UN between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the Saharawi liberation movement.
Image by Olivia Mann
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