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Zemla Intifada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Zemla Intifada (Intifada means uprising) is the name used by the Algeria backed Polisario movement for the disturbances of June 17, 1970, which culminated in a massacre by Spanish forces in the Zemla quarters of El-Aaiun, Western Sahara (then Spanish Sahara).[citation needed]
Leaders of the hitherto secret organization Harakat Tahrir, among them its founder Muhammad Bassiri, called a demonstration to hand a petition calling for independence and fair treatment for Sahrawis to the Spanish governor-general of the colony, General José María Pérez de Lema y Tejero. They were allowed to read out the petition, but as the demonstration was dispersing, police moved in to arrest its leaders. Demonstrators responded by pushing the policemen away and when the police charged with batons, stone-throwing erupted. The Spanish authorities called in the Spanish Foreign Legion who opened fire on the demonstrators, killing at least eleven and wounding scores. Hundreds of people were arrested.[citation needed]
In the days following the massacre, Harakat Tahrir activists, Bassiri among them, were hunted down by Spanish security forces. Bassiri disappeared in jail.[citation needed]
The suppression of the Zemla demonstration pushed the Sahrawi anticolonial movement into embracing armed struggle. The militant nationalist organization Front Polisario was formed three years later.[citation needed]
June 17th is now commemorated in the refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria, and has been used as a day of protest in Western Sahara.[citation needed]
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