The Moroccan authorities charged 33 youths for participating in riots last week in the Western Sahara region, a government official said.
The Western Sahara is a disputed region controlled by Morocco since Spain withdrew in 1975. The Polisario Front, a movement of the indigenous Sahrawis, seeks independence for this area. Algeria supports the Sahrawi claims to the territory.
The United Nations brokered a cease-fire in 1991 and has pledged to hold a referendum to decide the fate of this mineral-rich territory, but this has run into a deadlock since there are disagreements over who is eligible to vote.
The riots took place last Tuesday and Wednesday and were triggered when a prisoner was transferred from a jail in Laayoune, the main city of the disputed region, to a prison in Morocco. According to news reports, the inmate claims he is not Moroccan and wants to be transferred to Polisario camps in Algeria.
Elsewhere, about twelve people were wounded on Friday when Moroccan police dispersed a demonstration of students protesting in favor of independence for Western Sahara.