Moroccan security forces have broken up a protest camp in Western Sahara, hours before talks are to begin in the US on the future of the disputed territory.
Several people were injured during the operation, witnesses say.
The camp, for several thousand people near the territory’s capital, Laayoune, was the biggest protest against Moroccan rule in the 35-year dispute.
Local officials said the operation was aimed at a group who had refused orders to leave the camp.
The operation was launched hours before negotiators from the Moroccan government were due to meet members of the Polisario independence movement at UN-mediated talks in the United States.
The former Spanish colony, which was annexed by Morocco in 1975, is the scene of Africa’s longest-running territorial dispute.
Morocco annexed the phosphate-rich territory after Spanish settlers left in 1975. Rabat now offers to grant it autonomy, while Polisario seeks independence and is demanding a referendum.
Polisario fought a guerrilla war against Morocco until the UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991.
The talks between both sites have been deadlocked for years, and the last meeting in February 2010 ended without any movement in the dispute.
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