Morocco has blocked the entry of seven Spanish journalists into Western Sahara following the killing of a young demonstrator there by Moroccan police, Spanish media reported Tuesday.
Moroccan government sources accused the Western Sahara independence movement Polisario and its backer Algeria of using journalists to politicise social demands by protestors who have set up a tent camp near the Saharan capital Laayoune.
The Moroccan airline Royal Air Maroc cancelled the tickets of the Spanish journalists as they were preparing to fly from the Moroccan city of Casablanca to Laayoune, the daily El Mundo said.
The journalists were given no clear explanation for the cancellation.
Morocco perceives Spanish media as often siding with Polisario, government sources told the German Press Agency dpa. They accused Algeria of using Spanish journalists in a 'media war' against Morocco.
Morocco annexed Western Sahara after the colonial power Spain withdrew from there in 1975.
The Spanish journalists were prevented from flying into Laayoune following the killing of 14-year-old Najem el-Guareh near the protest camp on Sunday.
The incident occurred when two cars tried to force their way through a police checkpoint, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said Tuesday.
The people travelling in the cars included Ahmed Daoudi, a known criminal who was transporting weapons, according to the communique. Daoudi was planning to take vengeance of the protestors, who had expelled him from their camp, the ministry said.
The occupants of one of the cars opened fire, forcing police to respond, according to the communique.
However, camp residents quoted by the Spanish daily El Pais denied that the car occupants had opened fire.
El-Guareh was shot. Several others, including Daoudi, were reportedly injured. At least one of the victims was reported in a serious condition.
The demonstrators are demanding social improvements such as better housing. Morocco has cut down on the construction of social housing because of the economic crisis. Low-level or overcrowded housing is a problem all over the country, according to analysts in Rabat.
The Western Saharan demonstrators, however, are also accusing Morocco of using the desert region's natural resources such as fisheries to its own benefit.
The protest was taking separatist undertones, though it was not initially associated with Polisario, El Pais said.
The incidents in Laayoun coincided with the visit to Morocco of United Nations Western Sahara envoy Christopher Ross, who stressed the need to lower tension when meeting King Mohammed VI on Monday.
Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez also asked the Moroccan authorities to maintain contacts with the camp leaders in order to prevent violent incidents.
Morocco says there are about 1,000 demonstrators at the camp, which began to be set up on October 9. Spanish reports, however, put their number at more than 10,000.
More than 100 people protested against the UN Western Sahara force Minurso in Tifariti in a buffer zone between Morocco and Algeria on Monday, accusing it of not protecting human rights, El Pais reported.
The UN-sponsored talks between Morocco and Polisario are due to be relaunched in early November.
Polisario's 16-year war against Morocco ended in a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991. However, the planned referendum on independence was never put into practice by Morocco.
Rabat is now proposing to grant Western Sahara an autonomy status. Polisario rejects that option and continues insisting on the referendum on independence.
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