On the morning of Wednesday 2 March, about 500 disgruntled Saharawi gathered in front of the Department of Mines and Energy, at Smara Boulevard in El Aaiún, the capital of occupied Western Sahara.

United in being treated as second class citizens in their own homeland, the protesters’ aim was to peacefully demand their basic socio-economic rights be respected. A plan which was foiled early afternoon, when the Moroccan police force backed by Moroccan settlers fiercely broke-up the protest. Sources that were present at the scene state that the order for this ferocious intervention was given by a high-ranking official of El Aaiún, titled the ‘basha’ (a non-elected official working right below the governor).

The brutal intervention resulted in the arrest of 8 protesters. Their banners and other protest-material were confiscated. Western Sahara Resource Watch has received an extensive list of names of reportedly injured protesters. Among those was Sidi Ahmed Eddia, trade unionist, who had to be transported to hospital.

Eye-witnesses claim that the hospital is surrounded by police officers and Moroccan settlers, resulting in many wounded protesters being too scared to have their injuries attended to.

A wide spectrum of Saharawi civil society groups was represented at Wednesday’s manifestation. The group of protesters included, amongst others, former Fos Bou Craa phosphate workers, small-scale fishermen prohibited from fishing, unemployed graduates, laid-off workers from ‘Fleur De Mer’, former workers from Asmisi (a subsidiary of Fos Bou Craa), and relatives of missing and imprisoned Saharawi.

Another Saharawi demonstration, that took place around the same time but in another area of the city, was also violently dispersed by the police. The protest was fuelled by the same socio-economic motivations: demonstrators at the Hay Al-Matar district demanded employment and better living conditions.

Just a few days prior to the El-Aaiún events, the city of Dakhla (in the south of the territory) was held hostage by a massive police force and Moroccan settlers, roaming the Saharawi neighbourhoods and ran-sacking Saharawi shops and houses.