From 26 to 30 April 2013, women representatives of the Party of the European Left - Vice President Maite Mola, Meriem Derkaoui, Municipal Councillor of the French Communist Party in the Paris region, Katerina Igglezzi, National Parliamentarian of SYRIZA (Greece), Cristina Simó, in charge of  Women at the Spanish Communist Party, and Gitte Pedersen, Member of Board of the Red-Green Alliance (Denmark) -visited Western Sahara under Moroccan occupation to meet with associations of  Sahrawi civil society advocating for freedom of expression and against repression and human rights violations.
This visit came in a particular context, following the vote of the UN Security Council on the renewing of MINURSO mandate (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) in the Saharawi occupied territories, but without extension to monitoring the respect of human rights. A large "frustration" and "disappointment" is felt by many people that the delegation met in Smara, as they were fed by an increasing hope for political advance. 
The vote sparked a popular mobilization in several Sahrawi cities, soon as the information emerged, the protests  have been held on Friday, Saturday and Monday, in a climate of tension and a large police deployment, number of agents and vehicles around the main squares in the surrounding streets and along the main avenues. The Delegation of Party of the European Left was witness of repression against demonstrators with force and chase, by policies, men in uniform and civil with batons in hands.
On her return Maite Mola, Vice President of the Party of the European Left condemned "the deplorable violence of Moroccan occupation forces that were discovered in the process of filling their cars with stones they use to attack Saharawi civilians and even destroyed Sahrawi houses by stones, such as the case of activist Sultana Khaya".
At these protests, the Saharawi flag was raised and slogans such as "no alternative to self-determination" and "Free Sahara, Morocco outside" were chanted.
"We condemn the passivity of the international community in this conflict. We warn against the escalation of repression of the Saharawi population in the occupied territories. The Party of the European Left will continue to support the just struggle of the Saharawi people for self-determination", concluded Maite Mola.