{"id":2122,"date":"2016-06-19T22:26:59","date_gmt":"2016-06-19T22:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adalauk.org\/?p=2122"},"modified":"2016-06-19T22:26:59","modified_gmt":"2016-06-19T22:26:59","slug":"western-sahara-peaceful-demonstrations-marred-by-violent-police-intervention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/?p=2122","title":{"rendered":"Western Sahara: Peaceful demonstrations marred by violent police intervention"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52511\"><span id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52514\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"  wp-image-2126 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/adalauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/image2-1.jpg\" alt=\"image2\" width=\"289\" height=\"163\" srcset=\"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/image2-1.jpg 2208w, https:\/\/adalauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/image2-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/adalauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/image2-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/adalauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/image2-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/adalauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/image2-1-500x281.jpg 500w, https:\/\/adalauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/image2-1-640x360.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 289px) 100vw, 289px\" \/>The Moroccan authorities violently intervened in peaceful demonstrations, organised by young unemployed Saharawis on 11<sup id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52517\">th<\/sup> and 16<sup id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52520\">th<\/sup> June 2016 in El Aaiun and Smara. The demonstrators demanded access to their right to work and to freedom of expression.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52526\"><span id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52529\">According to witnesses, the Moroccan police threw stones at demonstrators as well as using sticks and truncheons to attack demonstrators in both cities, resulting in dozens of demonstrators as well as some bystanders being injured, some of them seriously. One of them was a correspondent for the local TV channel RASD-TV. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52535\"><span id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52538\">Sokaina, who participated in the demonstrations, told Adala UK \u2018Suddenly the Moroccan forces started attacking us. Four police officers started beating me, now I have wounds all over my body. This is what human rights mean to Morocco.\u2019<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52544\"><span id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52547\">In Smara, an eye witness told Adala UK: \u2018When we arrived at the hospital, we saw that it was surrounded by uniformed and plain clothes police officers. Police officers were also present inside the hospital with the patients \u2013 it seemed more like a police station than a hospital.\u2019<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52553\"><span id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52556\">Moreover, the local Moroccan government tarnish the actions and demonstrations which highlight the Saharawis\u2019 dire social and economic situation, by representing them as a \u2018betrayal of the throne of the kingdom of Morocco.\u2019<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52562\"><span id=\"x_yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1466339860867_52565\">Adala UK has systematically documented human rights abuses at the hands of the Moroccan security forces. We urge the Moroccan authorities to carry out an investigation into the excessive use of violence during these most recent events and to hold those responsible to account.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Moroccan authorities violently intervened in peaceful demonstrations, organised by young unemployed Saharawis on 11th and 16th June 2016 in El Aaiun and Smara. The demonstrators demanded access to their right to work and to freedom of expression. According to witnesses, the Moroccan police threw stones at demonstrators as well as using sticks and truncheons to attack demonstrators in both cities, resulting in dozens of demonstrators as well as some bystanders being injured, some of them seriously. One of them was a correspondent for the local TV channel RASD-TV. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}