Clashes in Morocco following the dismantling of refugee camp in Western Sahara

Morocco police

Moroccan police forces deployed in Western Sahara on Monday to dismantle a refugee camp set up near the city of Laayoune, wounding several people during the operation, witnesses said. According to AFP, locals said the operation was aimed at a group who had refused orders to leave the camp, built by some 12,000 people outside the town in the Western Sahara, which was annexed by Morocco in the mid-1970s.

Fighting between police and protestors spread to the streets of Laayoune, said a Moroccan head of a local non-government organization. The road from Laayoune to the camp was blocked by police to prevent people from the town going to the camp to help protestors.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Abdelaziz, who is known as "the President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)" called on Sunday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for urgent action against "the Moroccan military escalation" against the Sahrawi which could lead to ''a new crime against humanity.'' In a letter to Ban Ki-moon, he asked the UN to urgently consider ''the situation which could worsen further in the Sahrawi refugee camp of Akadim Isik, the east of the city of Laayoune, the capital of Western Sahara territory.''