The massacre and ensuing disturbances has been named the Zemla Intifada, or uprising, after the place the demonstration was held.
He is assumed to have been killed by his jailors, and is counted by the present-day Sahrawi nationalist movement as its first modern-day martyr (Morocco, which claims Western Sahara as its own province, has also similarly attempted to appropriate his legacy, arguing that the Harakat Tahrir was primarily interested in ejecting Spain, not in achieving independence as a nation separate from Morocco).
After the crushing of the Harakat Tahrir, Sahrawi nationalists abandoned the hope of a peaceful end to colonial rule.
In May 1973 the militant Front Polisario formed under the leadership of El-Ouali, calling for armed revolution against Spanish rule.
The Polisario, which is still active, would later turn its guns on the Moroccan and Mauritanian forces which invaded Western Sahara upon Spain's departure in 1975.