Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Twitter
Yahoo!
TechnoratiThousands demonsrate for Western Sahara in Madrid
Thousands of people demonstrated in Madrid on Saturday to condemn a deadly Moroccan raid on a camp in the disputed Western Sahara.
The demonstrators in the Spanish capital burnt Moroccan flags and chanted "Free Sahara now", demanding Morocco quit the Western Sahara which it annexed
after Spanish settlers withdrew in 1975.
Protest organisers the National Coordination of Associations in Solidarity with
Sahara accused the Spanish government of turning a blind eye to "Morocco's crimes" in the former colony.
The leaders of Spain's two main labour unions and actor Javier Bardem joined the protest.
Moroccan security forces raided a camp in Western Sahara on 8 November.
Moroccan officials say 12 people were killed, including 10 from its security forces, but the separatitst Polisario Front, says Moroccan forces killed dozens of people and wounded more than 4,500.
Spain on Friday demanded urgent explanation from Morocco about what happened.
Several journalists, most of them Spanish, have been prevented from going to the camp. Reporters from France’s Le Monde and Le Figaro are believed to be the only foreign journalists to have been given authorisation to enter.
Sources in the camp say that shops and offices are open but Moroccan soldiers and police are keeping it under close surveillance, with entrances tightly controlled.
Comments (1)
POLISARIO FRONT = NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT
THE POLISARIO FRONT ISNT A SEPARATIST GROUP, BUT A NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT, LIKE THE ANC IN SOUTH AFRICA OR THE FLN IN ALGERIA. ALSO, THE INFORMATION DIDNT SAY THAT THERE WERE ALSO REPRESENTATIONS FROM SPANISH POLITICAL PARTIES PP, IU & UPD.
FINALLY, SEVERAL SPANISH JOURNALISTS HAD BEEN BEATEN, DETAINED OR EXPELLED FROM WESTERN SAHARA OR MOROCCO ITSELF IN THE LAST WEEKS.
React to this article