"Unprecedented" pro-independence demonstration on Saturday in Laâyoune

An "unprecedented" pro-independence demonstration in several decades took place on Saturday in Laâyoune, the largest city in Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony controlled by Morocco, several Moroccan media reported on Monday.According to the authorities in Laâyoune, some 500 people marched peacefully at the end of the day, without intervention from law enforcement. Violence, however, broke out in the evening after the procession dispersed, and at least 21 police officers were injured, according to the same sources. One of them is in serious condition and has been transported to Rabat.The clashes also left an undetermined number of injured among the demonstrators, claimed a local official of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH, independent), Hamoud Iguilid.The demonstration, which took place while North American media journalists were in Laâyoune, gathered more than 2,00…