Moroccan activists are planning to extend countrywide protests through the weekend so as to bring issues of marginalisation and inequality to international attention at a major global climate summit taking place in Marrakech next week.

Moroccan cities have witnessed the most serious protests since the Arab spring in recent days following an incident in which a fisherman died in an altercation with police [1]. Mouhcine Fikri was crushed to death in a rubbish truck trying to retrieve 500kg of fish allegedly caught out of season which had been confiscated.

“It could have happened to any one of us in Morocco”, said 29-year-old Iman, a young mother and student from Marrakech.

“We are not treated as humans by the police or anyone who has any sort of power,” added Yugerten, a 28-year-old student activist, who has been coordinating protests in the city that were attended by thousands last week.

Demonstrators want to maintain their actions to catch the eye of visiting delegations to the UN climate change talks that start on Monday. Yugerten said Facebook was the principal means of getting people together.

“We cannot ask someone on the street to come along, or talk freely to foreign journalists, but on Facebook we are open, even though we know the authorities are watching us there too,” he said. “But we have to keep going because what we have right now isn’t living.”

Iman said one of the principal complaints was how much control the authorities have over ordinary people’s lives. “They can stop us getting a job, or scare our families but ... even if you have a job, there is no law to protect you anyway. Look at what happened to Mouhcine.”

When Fikri died, parallels were quickly drawn with Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit seller who set himself on fire after the police confiscated his goods, triggering the Arab spring [2].

But Yugerten explained that this is not a new movement, or one that is seeking to overthrow the government, but part of an ongoing fight for some semblance of democracy. The arrival of thousands of participants for the COP 22 summit is timely.

Activist Nadir Bouhmouch, who also participated in the protests in Marrakech, told Democracy Now that people feel the “state is using this conference to greenwash its abuses, to greenwash the economic, social and environmental injustices that the people of Morocco face” [3].

Yugerten said he and his friends are against the climate talks because they legitimise the tight grip the country holds its citizens in. And last week there was a virtual protest to warn visitors that even if they are able to use WhatsApp calls and Skype, after they leave Moroccans will again be banned from using the services [4].

With international eyes on the country, the authorities have acted quickly to try to defuse tensions. On Tuesday 11 people were arrested in connection with Fikri’s death, but analysts see this as a knee-jerk attempt to be seen to be doing something [5].

Both Iman and Yugerten are educated millennials, but say people from all walks of life have taken to the streets, from traders to taxi drivers and elderly women. Yugerten said he had been encouraged to see “new faces” in Marrakech this week too.

The authorities are believed to be mounting their own social media campaign to dissuade people from turning out. A message has been doing the rounds on Facebook and WhatsApp accusing the protesters of being un-Islamic and trying to turn Morocco into Syria.

Maeve Shearlaw in Marrakech
@maeveshearlaw

Some names have been changed

* “Moroccan activists plan protests to coincide with UN climate summit”. The Guardian. Saturday 5 November 2016 08.00 GMT Last modified on Saturday 5 November 2016 08.02 GMT:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/05/moroccan-activists-plan-protests-un-climate-summit-marrakech

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Morocco protests after fisherman crushed to death in a garbage truck

Demonstrations sparked by incident in city of Hoceima in which police confiscated an illegal catch of swordfish.

Thousands of people have joined protests against police abuse across Morocco after a fisherman was crushed to death in a garbage truck in an incident some are comparing to the death of a Tunisian vendor in 2010 that sparked the Arab spring uprisings.

According to Moroccan news website Le360.ma and magazine TelQuel, police in the northern town of Hoceima confiscated and destroyed swordfish belonging to a fisherman, Mouhcine Fikri, because it is not permitted to catch swordfish at this time of the year.

Footage circulating online appears to show Fikri jumping into a garbage truck to retrieve his fish, before being crushed to death by the truck’s compactor.

Fikri’s death on Friday in the ethnically Berber Rif region prompted outrage on social media, and calls for protests in several cities over what is seen as police violence. King Mohammed VI called for a thorough investigation.

Fikri’s funeral in Hoceima drew large crowds on Sunday with the procession led by a dozen drivers in their cars – including taxis – and marchers waving Berber flags.

Thousands of demonstrators – including activists for Berber rights – also gathered in the capital of Rabat, chanting “We are all Mouhcine!” while smaller protests were held in several other Rif towns and in the city of Marrakesh.

The general directorate for national security released a statement on Sunday denying its local officers were involved in Fikri’s death. Authorities have not commented on the circumstances of his death.

The interior ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the king asked the interior minister, Mohammed Hassad, to visit Fikri’s family and to ensure a “meticulous” investigation.

Abdelilah Benkirane, the prime minister, released a statement on Saturday offering his condolences over Fikri’s death, but urging members and supporters of his party to refrain from participating in protests.

The Moroccan Human Rights Association condemned the “heinous” incident and recalled another incident in Hoceima, in which five youths died during 2011 protests by the February 20^th Movement.

That movement emerged amid the Arab spring uprisings that began in Tunisia when vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire after police confiscated his wares. Bouazizi became a symbol of struggle against unemployment, police abuse, corruption and authoritarian governments.

“People are really pissed off, and can’t keep being silent anymore,” said Abdellah Lefnatsa, a union leader from a leftwing movement among the more than 1,000 people protesting in front of the parliament in the capital, Rabat. He claimed that students, workers and activists have died because of police violence in recent years.

Rachid Hilali, a technology project manager at the Rabat protest, said, “To me what happened in Al Hoceima should not happen in 2016. This way of killing people by the police, our grandfathers are used to it, but we should not be used to this. We cannot accept this kind of treatment any more.”

Associated Press

* The Guardian. Monday 31 October 2016 05.49 GMT Last modified on Wednesday 2 November 2016 08.40 GMT:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/31/morocco-protests-after-fisherman-crushed-to-death-in-a-garbage-truck

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