amy: why was gdeim izik such a turning point? what happened? why were people protesting? gdeim izik was a turning point because it was a very genuine form of mass protest like western sahara has never witnessed, nor has the rest of the world. amy: some have called it the first arab spring, before tunisia and before egypt. >> yes, without any doubt, this was the beginning of the arab spring. every media outlet, after gdeim izik, could only talk about how well organized, well managed and well prepared the protest in western sahara was. and from here it spread to tunisia and egypt. so, of course, when the american academic noted that this was the beginning of the arab spring, he was correct. amy: after leaving mohamed erguibi's office, we drive to a restaurant near the airport for dinner. as usual, we're followed. so we sat down here at a restaurant near the airport in laayoune. we came into a vast, empty restaurant. and within about 15 minutes after we ordered come about 10 mainly men, some women, dressed in traditional west saharan dress, carrying moroccan flags, all came