Polisario supporters stormed the Moroccan consulate in Valencia on Sunday, removing the Moroccan flag in an attempt to hoist the separatist “flag” of the Polisario Front.
Rabat – Morocco condemned Polisario supporters’ hostile act at the Moroccan consulate general in Valencia, Spain, on Sunday.
A group of frenzied Polisario activists committed acts of vandalism at the Moroccan diplomatic representation, removing Morocco’s flag to hoist their separatist “flag.”
The consulate of Morocco in Valencia faced the separatists and returned the Moroccan flag to its place.
Through its embassy in Spain, Morocco’s government condemned Polisario’s acts of vandalism and violence targeting the consulate in Valencia.
“We followed this morning, the criminal and irresponsible acts that the Polisario ordered through a handful of criminals who hung what I would simply call a rag at the level of the enclosure of the Consulate General of the kingdom of Morocco in Valencia in the place of the national flag,” the ambassador of Morocco in Spain Karima Benyaich said on Sunday to reporters.
The ambassador said that the Consul General of Morocco immediately proceeded to return Morocco’s flag to its place following the “cowardly and abject action.”
The Moroccan diplomat expressed Morocco’s indignation, condemning the acts of vandalism and violence “in the strongest terms.”
She also recalled Polisario’s illegal actions in the buffer zone and the Gueruerat crisis, saying that the incident at the consulate “confirmed the mafia and outlaw character of its sponsors (Polisario).”
For weeks, Polisario supporters staged illegal protests in Guerguerat, one of the key points along the Moroccan-Mauritanian border for commercial and civil traffic in Africa.
The presence of Polisario in the region and its blockade of traffic forced Morocco’s army to intervene, securing the area in favor of commercial truck drivers and civilians.
Benyaich described the acts at the consulate as “deliberate and absolutely unacceptable.” She said they “follow the various calls of provocation launching this week by the pseudo representatives of the Polisario, calling on their supporters to demonstrate in front of all the Moroccan representations in Europe.”
The Moroccan diplomat added that Morocco took note of Spain’s condemnation of the activists. Spanish authorities denounced the acts as illegal and not in accordance with international law.
“This umpteenth provocation only translates the mafia methods of the Polisario, outside the framework of the law, due to their eminently violent character,” Benyaich underlined.
The autonomous government of Valencia also denounced the acts by the Polisario supporters at the consulate general of Morocco.
The regional government said that the Generalitat of Valence “condemns the acts committed this Sunday during a rally in front of the Consulate General of Morocco by certain individuals who entered the building to attempt to remove the Moroccan flag.”
The regional government said that Polisario undermined the “inviolability, integrity, and the dignity of the consular seat.”
Joan Calabuig, the regional secretary for the EU and external relations of the government of Valencia, said Polisario’s vandalism violates the Vienna Conventions.
He added that he contacted the Consul General of Morocco in Valencia, Abdelillah Idrissi, to express his solidarity and condemnation of these unacceptable acts.
