Protesters prepared to march in the Moroccan city of Al-Hoceima on Thursday in defiance of a government ban, the latest in a series of demonstrations that have shaken the country’s north. The North African country’s Rif region, where residents have long complained of neglect and marginalisation, has seen repeated protests and outbreaks of unrest this … Read more
Morocco’s government will make a regional tour to examine development projects, Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani said Thursday after months of protests shook the northern Rif region. Media reports said the tour could begin by next week. It is expected to take in the central Beni Mellal-Khenifra region and “the southern provinces”, a reference … Read more
Moroccan security forces have begun withdrawing from the restive northern cities of Al-Hoceima and Imzouren, which have been rocked by weeks of social unrest, officials and residents said. A “gradual” pullback from both cities began on Monday at the request of King Mohammed VI, the governor of Al-Hoceima province, Fouad Chourak, told reporters. A resident … Read more
A court in Morocco on Wednesday sentenced 25 demonstrators and suspected members of a grassroots protest movement to 18 months in jail each, a defence attorney said. They were among 32 people arrested more than two weeks ago after clashes that erupted in the port of Al-Hoceima when police tried to detain the head of … Read more
Moroccan police have detained four people in northern Morocco, an official and an activist said, as protests continued for a second week in the neglected Rif region. “There have been three arrests in the past 24 hours,” an official source said, without identifying those detained. A local activist said six people had been brought in … Read more
Hundreds of young people clashed with riot police in northern Morocco Friday, following a general strike called by activists demanding the release of a protest leader. Nasser Zefzafi, who emerged as the head of the grassroots Al-Hirak al-Shaabi, or “Popular Movement”, was arrested on Monday after three days on the run. His arrest sparked protests … Read more
Most shops were shuttered Friday in the northern Morocco city of Al-Hoceima, the second day of a general strike called by activists demanding the release of a protest leader. Nasser Zefzafi, who emerged as the head of the grassroots Al-Hirak al-Shaabi, or “Popular Movement”, was arrested on Monday after three days on the run. His … Read more
Several thousand people took to the streets in Morocco after dark on Tuesday to demand the release of the leader of months of protests in the neglected northern Rif region. The region has been shaken by social unrest since the death in October of fishmonger Mouhcine Fikri, 31, who was crushed in a rubbish truck … Read more
Authorities in Morocco on Monday arrested the fugitive leader of a protest movement that has shaken the country’s northern Rif region for months, officials said. A government source and another official from the interior ministry said Nasser Zefzafi, who had been on the run since Friday, had been taken into custody. Further details of his … Read more
Authorities in Morocco have arrested the fugitive leader of a protest movement that has shaken the country’s northern Rif region for six months, officials said on Monday. Nasser Zefzafi, who had been on the run since Friday, was detained on Monday, said a government source and another official from the interior ministry. Further details were … Read more
Protesters have rallied for a third night running in Morocco’s city of Al-Hoceima, in a northern region of the country where there has been growing social unrest. An AFP journalist saw several hundred mainly young demonstrators gathered in two neighbourhoods of the city on Sunday night, chanting “The state is corrupt!” and “Dignity!”. They also … Read more
Moroccan authorities were engaged in a manhunt on Saturday for a protest leader in the neglected Rif region after his arrest was ordered for interrupting an imam’s prayer sermon following more than six months of social unrest. The king’s prosecutor late Friday ordered “the opening of an investigation and the arrest of Nasser Zefzafi” after … Read more
Morocco’s interior minister led a large government delegation Monday to the northern city of Al-Hoceima which has been rocked by months of protests demanding jobs and economic development. Al-Hoceima is in the Rif — a long-neglected ethnically Berber region that was at the heart of a 2011 movement for reform that saw King Mohammed VI … Read more
A Moroccan court has sentenced seven people to between five and eight months in prison over the death of a fish seller crushed in a rubbish truck. Mouhcine Fikri, 31, was killed on October 28 as he protested against the authorities’ seizure and destruction of his swordfish, which had been caught out of season. His … Read more