The Green March: Moroccans take over the Sahara
In 1975, unarmed Moroccans faced off against gun-carrying Spanish soldiers
Witness History · BBC World Service
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (open.live.bbc.co.uk) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
On 6 November 1975, tens of thousands of Moroccans poured into Spanish Sahara in a bid to claim it for their own.
They danced, waved flags and played music as they faced off, unarmed, against gun-carrying Spanish soldiers.
The so-called Green March led to a diplomatic victory for Morocco's King Hassan, but sparked a guerrilla war and decades of instability.
In 2013, TV cameraman Seddik Maaninou and North Africa expert Francis Gillies told Simon Watts about that momentous protest.
(Photo: Protestors on the Green March. Credit: Jacques Haillot/Apis/Sygma/Sygma/Getty Images)