MADRID: Several thousand people demonstrated in Madrid on Sunday in support of independence for the disputed territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony in northwestern Africa.

About 3,000 protesters marched from Atocha railway station to the central Plaza de la Provincia behind a banner declaring “Sahara Free now!”.

Banners from many parts of Spain could be seen at the demonstration which also included live music and street performers dressed in the red, green, black and white of the traditional Saharawi flag.

“We believe the Saharawi people have to right to self-determination,” said Jose Taboada, president of the Coordination of Spanish Associations of Solidarity with Western Sahara, which organised the protest and wants the territory to vote on independence.

“This is a scream to demand that the Spanish government intervene to help the Saharawis to be able to vote to decide what they would like to be,” he said.

Western Sahara, larger than Britain but with a population under one million people, has lucrative phosphate reserves, rich fishing grounds and potentially oil.

Morocco took control of most of the territory in November 1975 when colonial power Spain withdrew, prompting a guerrilla war for independence that lasted until 1991 when the United Nations brokered a ceasefire and sent in a peacekeeping mission.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2014