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. Events. 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. Dismantlement. 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. Further riots. The riots later expanded to El Aaiun and other towns like Smara and El Marsa. 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. Aftermath. According to Moroccan authorities, the dismantlement of the Gdeim Izik camp and the posterior protests resulted in 11 deaths and 159 wounded among the security forces and 2 civilian deaths among protesters (one of them, Babi Hamadi Buyema, who was carrying Spanish citizenship, was reported dead after being repeatedly run-over by a  police car). According to the Polisario Front, 36 Sahrawis were killed, 723 wounded, and 163 were arrested. Governmental changes. On 26 November, Mohammed VI made several changes of "walis" (civil governors), including Mohamed Jelmouss. The former "wali" of El Aaiún was appointed governor of the Doukkala-Abda region, but was dismissed from that post soon after. He was replaced by Khalid Dkhil, member of the CORCAS and son of a mayor of Dakhla during Spanish colonization era, marking the first time that a Sahrawi was appointed governor of the Laayoune-Bojador region. Smara youth clashes. On 29 November, clashes between  Moroccan and Sahrawi students at the Moulay Rachid high school resulted in at least 29 injured, according to SADR's Ministry of Occupied Territories and Communities Abroad, while sources in the town affirm that 36 had been treated at the Smara regional hospital. Trials. A group of mainly young Sahrawis were arrested after the protests and were accused of the murder of the 11 Moroccan auxiliary Forces killed before the dismantlement of the camp. They were tried in a military court and 25 of them received heavy jail sentences. Some reported being tortured by the Moroccan DST. Legacy. Poets Hadjatu  Aliat Swelm and Hossein Moulud have written about life at the protest camp.