A large March in Laayoune to Denounce ‘Despicable Terrorist Attack’ on Civilians in Es-Semara

05 November 2023: Laayoune – A large march was held on Sunday in Laayoune to denounce the “despicable terrorist attack” perpetrated against civilians in the city of Es-Semara, the spiritual Capital of the Kingdom’s Southern Provinces.

During the march, participants led by local Chioukhs, notables and elected representatives vigorously condemned the attack, calling it “a terrorist act committed by enemies of the Kingdom’s territorial integrity”.

Tens of thousands of the inhabitants of Laayoune city and the surrounding area took to the streets and main thoroughfares of the city, waving the national flag to express their indignation at this cowardly attack and show their solidarity with their fellow citizens in the city of Es-Semara.

They chanted slogans denouncing this “despicable attack which targeted innocent civilians in flagrant violation of international law”, while calling on the international community to assume its responsibility “to put an end to the actions of the polisario, “a terrorist entity which detains our brothers and bombs our sons”.

These attacks, targeting civilians, “are aimed at undermining the security and stability prevailing in the Kingdom’s southern provinces” and “attest to the failure of the separatist thesis on diplomatic, military and political levels”, they stressed.

The banners read: “Like Daesh, the polisario is a bunch of terrorists”, “The explosions at Es-Semara threaten the peace and safety of civilians in flagrant violation of international law, international humanitarian law and Security Council resolutions”.

The Laayoune march ended with the reading of a statement by the Chioukhs of the Saharawi tribes, in which they expressed their indignation at this aggression that runs counter to international charters and conventions, seeing it as a “vain attempt by opponents of the Kingdom of Morocco’s territorial integrity to disrupt and undermine the efforts being made under the aegis of the United Nations, as well as at regional and international level, in support of Morocco’s sovereignty over the whole of its territory”.

The statement noted that “the opponents have flagrantly failed in their vain attempts to undermine the relevance and credibility of the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty, which has the merit, among other things, of putting an end to an artificial conflict over the Sahara that has lasted too long”.

Faced with this perilous situation, the signatories of the statement voiced their firm condemnation of this irresponsible aggression and remind the aggressor that Morocco and the security of its territories and its sons are a red line. In this context, they affirmed that the separatists’ ambitions could not weaken the will of the tribes’ Chioukhs to defend the Sahara with all their heart and soul, while remaining mobilized behind HM King Mohammed VI and commending all wise and far-sighted initiatives aimed at defending the Kingdom’s territorial integrity.