No fewer than 200 people have been arrested and many others needing medical intervention due to sustained injuries following a youth-led protest held against corruption and disregard to better welfare of the populace in Morocco.
The protests, which entered it’s fourth day, witnessed the remonstrators, in their thousands, engage in a heated clash with a group of policemen which involved violent clashes and hurled stones as well as cars and banks set ablaze resulting in loss of properties with yet to be known value.
Reports disclosed that the demonstration, organized on the social media by a youth group movement identified as GenZ 212, took into the streets with the agitators chanting slogans for improved health and education services alongside better employment opportunities.
The youths, in the street of Oujda on Tuesday night, criticized the funds spent on building stadiums for the 2030 FIFA World Cup citing it as a misplaced priority, many of them carrying placards which unfurled, ”At least, the FIFA stadium will have a first aid skit, but our hospitals don’t.”
However, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) disclosed that 37 of the arrestees have been released on bail pending investigations, while dozens of them have been freed outrightly.
Further reports also stated that the Genz 212 group has expressed regret of the violent protest. In an extracted statement, it states, ”We regret over acts of rioting or vandalism that affected public or private properties.
”We urge participants to remain peaceful and avoid any behaviour that could undermine the legitimacy of our just demands.”
The government, while commending the balanced reaction of the security authorities in line with relevant legal procedures, issued a statement expressing willingness to engage with the youths within institutions and public places to find realistic solutions and provisions for the requests by the citizens.
