Brussels, January 17, 2016 (SPS) - President of the Belgian Committee of support to the Sahrawi people Pierre Galand called on Friday to refuse the “gagging” operated by Morocco, after the “cancellation,” in Liège, of the screening of a documentary on the resistance in Western Sahara.
The decision to cancel the screening was taken “following the several pressures exercised by Morocco,” said the communiqué of the committee.
The Arab Cultural Centre of Liège (CCAPL) planned to screen, on 23 January 2016, a documentary by Brazilian filmmaker Iara Lee entitled “Life is Waiting: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara.”
The documentary deals with the issue of Sahrawi young people, born and having grown up under the Moroccan occupation in the occupied territories since 1975 or exiled in the refugee camps of Tindouf, their lives, their aspirations, challenges and their views about the non-violent struggle against the Moroccan oppressor.
“The Consulate of Morocco in Belgium, the communal counsellor Mohamed Bougnouch and the police of Liège interceded with CCAPL to invite it to cancel the screening, under the pretext of the alarm status, considering this activity as dangerous,” according to the text which insists on the urgent need to preserve democracy. (SPS)
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