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Calm returning to Western Sahara after unrest

10 November 2010 23:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Observers say calm is returning to Western Sahara after two days of clashes between Moroccan security forces and local people seeking independence for the desert territory, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com website.

Brahim Elansari, a human rights activist in the main city of Laayoune, said soldiers and police were patrolling the streets but some districts were returning to normal Wednesday.

Elansari says "you can see stores open and people walking in the streets."

Violence broke out Monday after Moroccan forces tore down a tent camp set up by some 20,000 native Saharawi people outside Laayoune to protest discrimination and deprivation at the hands of the Moroccan government.

A local independence movement called the Polisario Front has long been locked in a conflict with Morocco, which claims the territory.