THE protest movement that has shaken northern Morocco for the past eight months is as creative as it is persistent. After being blocked from the main square in Al Hoceima, the epicentre of the unrest, and then beaten by police as they marched down side streets, the protesters decided to go to the beach, thinking that the authorities would not follow them. But on July 1st police in full riot gear waded into the sea as protesters in swimming trunks splashed them with water.
The trouble began in October after a fishmonger called Mouhcine Fikri was crushed by a garbage compactor at a port in Al Hoceima, which is located in the Rif, a northern mountain region with a rebellious streak. Fikri was trying to retrieve fish that had been confiscated by the authorities. To locals, his death was a striking example of hogra—humiliating treatment by an abusive state. (Something similar triggered the riots in Tunisia in late 2010 that led to the upheaval of the Arab spring.) So...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2sUhyQD
EmoticonEmoticon