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Gdeim Izik protest camp
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Gdeim Izik protest camp
The Gdeim Izik protest camp (also spelled Gdayam Izik) was a protest camp in Western Sahara, established on 9 October 2010 and lasting into November that year, with related incidents occurring in the aftermath of its dismantlement on 8 November. The primary focus of the protests was against "ongoing discrimination, poverty and human rights abuses against local citizens".
While protests were initially peaceful, they were later marked by clashes between Sahrawi civilians and Moroccan security forces. Some referred to the protests as the Third Sahrawi Intifada, following the First and the Second Sahrawi Intifadas.
Political activist Noam Chomsky has suggested that the month-long protest encampment at Gdeim Izik constituted the start of the Arab Spring, while most sources consider the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia on 17 December 2010 to be the actual start.
The protest started on the night of 9 October 2010, when a group of Sahrawis erected the protest camp 12 km. south-east of El Aaiún, the administrative capital of the Moroccan-administered Southern Provinces in the disputed territory. The number of protesters increased rapidly in the first weeks from a few hundred khaimas (traditional tents) to several thousand coming from other towns of Western Sahara and southern Morocco.
By the first week of November, the Gdeim Izik protest camp's population was estimated at around 5,000. The primary objective of the camp was to protest against "ongoing discrimination, poverty and human rights abuses against local citizens", but later some protesters also demanded independence for Western Sahara.
On 24 October, a vehicle trying to enter the camp was fired upon by Moroccan Army forces. As a result, 14-year-old Nayem Elgarhi died and other passengers were injured. According to the Moroccan Interior ministry, a bullet was fired from the vehicle forcing the security forces to return fire, with a final toll of one dead and three injured. However, according to the Polisario front, there were no weapons in the vehicle. According to SADR's Occupied Territories and Communities Abroad Ministry, while the youths were bringing food, water and medicines to the protest camp, they were chased by the security forces since they fled El Aaiún. Elgarhi's family denounced the boy's secret burial, demanding a trial for the officers who shot him.
On the early morning of 8 November, the protest camp was dismantled by Moroccan police forces, with 3,000 arrests. According to the Moroccan Interior Ministry, no firearms were used and the civilians on the camp were deployed "as human shields". Confronting them was a group of young protesters that used stones, knives and propane tanks.
The riots later expanded to El Aaiun and other towns like Smara and El Marsa.[citation needed] In El Aaiun, protesters took to the streets in the morning, as there were no communications with the protest camp and they had no information about their relatives and friends in the camp. The protesters, some waving SADR's flag, were joined by the residents of the camp who were reaching the city in attacking government buildings, banks, cars and shops, and clashing with the police forces. In the afternoon, with the return of the forces deployed in Gdeim Izik, pro-Moroccan protesters demonstrated in the city.
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Gdeim Izik protest camp
The Gdeim Izik protest camp (also spelled Gdayam Izik) was a protest camp in Western Sahara, established on 9 October 2010 and lasting into November that year, with related incidents occurring in the aftermath of its dismantlement on 8 November. The primary focus of the protests was against "ongoing discrimination, poverty and human rights abuses against local citizens".
While protests were initially peaceful, they were later marked by clashes between Sahrawi civilians and Moroccan security forces. Some referred to the protests as the Third Sahrawi Intifada, following the First and the Second Sahrawi Intifadas.
Political activist Noam Chomsky has suggested that the month-long protest encampment at Gdeim Izik constituted the start of the Arab Spring, while most sources consider the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia on 17 December 2010 to be the actual start.
The protest started on the night of 9 October 2010, when a group of Sahrawis erected the protest camp 12 km. south-east of El Aaiún, the administrative capital of the Moroccan-administered Southern Provinces in the disputed territory. The number of protesters increased rapidly in the first weeks from a few hundred khaimas (traditional tents) to several thousand coming from other towns of Western Sahara and southern Morocco.
By the first week of November, the Gdeim Izik protest camp's population was estimated at around 5,000. The primary objective of the camp was to protest against "ongoing discrimination, poverty and human rights abuses against local citizens", but later some protesters also demanded independence for Western Sahara.
On 24 October, a vehicle trying to enter the camp was fired upon by Moroccan Army forces. As a result, 14-year-old Nayem Elgarhi died and other passengers were injured. According to the Moroccan Interior ministry, a bullet was fired from the vehicle forcing the security forces to return fire, with a final toll of one dead and three injured. However, according to the Polisario front, there were no weapons in the vehicle. According to SADR's Occupied Territories and Communities Abroad Ministry, while the youths were bringing food, water and medicines to the protest camp, they were chased by the security forces since they fled El Aaiún. Elgarhi's family denounced the boy's secret burial, demanding a trial for the officers who shot him.
On the early morning of 8 November, the protest camp was dismantled by Moroccan police forces, with 3,000 arrests. According to the Moroccan Interior Ministry, no firearms were used and the civilians on the camp were deployed "as human shields". Confronting them was a group of young protesters that used stones, knives and propane tanks.
The riots later expanded to El Aaiun and other towns like Smara and El Marsa.[citation needed] In El Aaiun, protesters took to the streets in the morning, as there were no communications with the protest camp and they had no information about their relatives and friends in the camp. The protesters, some waving SADR's flag, were joined by the residents of the camp who were reaching the city in attacking government buildings, banks, cars and shops, and clashing with the police forces. In the afternoon, with the return of the forces deployed in Gdeim Izik, pro-Moroccan protesters demonstrated in the city.
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