RABAT - As announced by the Movement February 20th through Facebook and the Internet in general, last Sunday there were demonstrations all over the Moroccan territory. According to data provided by the Ministry of the Interior, demonstrations for democracy and dignity "involved thirty-five city for a total of about 75 000 participants. Also according to the Ministry, at the end of the day there were five dead, one hundred and twenty hundred and twenty people injured and detained. There are various estimates of the organizers, who speak of fifty-three villages affected by the initiative and about 300 000 members. No hypothesis has been advanced on the bruised and the demonstrators ended up in arrest. In any event when you can not have exact figures, partly because there was no media coverage of events prodottisi in the inner regions of the country, where the protest involved whole villages and has again become harder. A protest continued the following day, including the popular revolts, the violent repression by the authorities and suicide attempts, which is not likely to stop immediately.
Sunday, February 20
From the first hours the morning of Sunday, February 20th several thousand demonstrators gathered near Bab Lhed, the central area of \u200b\u200bthe capital, from responding to the call of the youth movement and supported by different civil society organizations. In the afternoon, about 10 000 people marched peacefully along the Avenue Mohammed V to reach the parliament building. Despite the large presence of police, uniformed and plainclothes, there were no clashes or violence. The same scenario was repeated in Casablanca, where about 5,000 people are meeting in the Mohammed V square and then have moved into adjacent streets, under the watchful eyes of the men of the Surete nationale. "The people want change," the slogan chanted by a crowd consisting mainly of youth and families. The signs displayed by demonstrators calling for democratic reforms and an immediate change in the constitution, as proposed by the platform of the Movement.
very different the situation experienced in the rest of the territory, where there were no correspondents of international media. From the northern tip of the country up to Laayoune (capital of Western Sahara), dozens of demonstrations have been violently repressed by police and have taken on the tones of the revolt already known in the prior experience of Tunisia.
In Tangier, where they had already had riots in the days prior to the appointment of 20 February (a police station is blown in the night between Friday and Saturday), the police have targeted the protesters (as shown in the video) that night turned their anger against the premises of establishments Banking (Wafa Cash, owned by the royal family) and the telecommunications company Maroc Telecom. A dozen members of Attac Tanger, among the most active in organizing the protest, are still under arrest.
In Tangier, where they had already had riots in the days prior to the appointment of 20 February (a police station is blown in the night between Friday and Saturday), the police have targeted the protesters (as shown in the video) that night turned their anger against the premises of establishments Banking (Wafa Cash, owned by the royal family) and the telecommunications company Maroc Telecom. A dozen members of Attac Tanger, among the most active in organizing the protest, are still under arrest. The most severe budget in Al Hoceima, a city reference of the northern region of the Rif Five confirmed dead, charred inside a bank on fire. Along the streets, the protest was quickly radicalized, railing against the symbols of local power, in the area known for its corruption. A burn was also the seat of the municipality, in addition to police cars encircled by the protesters. "Dategliene yet, so not enough," is the cry of anger that makes the revolt, as documented by the video posted on YouTube. The security forces have been waiting for reinforcements (joints in the evening) to launch the crackdown. We do not know yet the number of injured protesters and ended up in handcuffs. The demonstrations did not affect only the port Mediterranean, but were extended to all the Rif, a region suffering from decades of economic isolation and political level, where social reality (unemployment, lack of development, migration) is one of the most critical of Morocco.
On the day of 20 February there were violent clashes in the towns of Sefrou, Larache, Guelmin and Laayoune, where last November, the Moroccan army had razed the field of Gdeim Izek (set up by the inhabitants of the city to claim rights and social justice), leaving behind at least ten deaths. In Marrakech, the police repressed strokes batons and tear gas protests erupted not only in the city center but also in the popular districts of the suburbs. "These are human rights which is much talk on TV" is the comment of a woman who takes the phone with his brutal beating of a protester to the ground performed by a group of anti-riot.
Monday, February 21
If the day on Sunday 20 February, the image conveyed by the national and international media, concentrated in the cities of Rabat and Casablanca, was that of a monarchy that guarantees the right of expression (which gives a distorted picture of reality), the events prodottisi nel lunedì successivo smentiscono gli sforzi fatti dal regime. Spenti i riflettori sul paese, le manifestazioni sono andate avanti in tutto il territorio e la polizia non ha esitato ad usare la violenza per soffocarle.
E’ ancora il Rif ad essere protagonista delle rivolte. Nel villaggio di Imzouren, a pochi kilometri da Al Hoceima, blogger locali riferiscono di almeno due morti registrati durante gli scontri. La repressione delle autorità, secondo le stesse fonti, avrebbe colpito duramente anche la vicina Ait Bouaych, oltre ai centri di Chefchouen e Oujda. Nelle città di Fes e Meknes gli studenti non sono rientrati in aula e sono scesi in strada per protestare contro la reazione violenta del regime abbattutasi nella regione il giorno precedente. At the university of the "holy city" have joined the residents of the neighborhoods developed around the campus, but police dispersed the protesters by firing rubber bullets and tear gas and forcing students to barricade themselves in their residences. A
Sefrou, according to witnesses present during the demonstration, groups of plainclothes police attacked the crowd took to the streets, and wounded seriously (broken ribs and head contisuioni) some of the best known activists, including Ez-Eddine Manjli , secretary of the local section Annadj Addimocrati (dissident Marxist party).
In the evening the police violence has also reached Rabat. A Bab Lhed, a sit-in of about fifty people held by the Moroccan Human Rights (AMDH) in solidarity with the Libyan people has been cleared to truncheon blows. The President dell'AMDH, Khadiya Riyadh, ended up in hospital as a result of numerous blows to all parts of the body. Among the wounded also the cartoonist Khalid Gueddar.
In the evening the police violence has also reached Rabat. A Bab Lhed, a sit-in of about fifty people held by the Moroccan Human Rights (AMDH) in solidarity with the Libyan people has been cleared to truncheon blows. The President dell'AMDH, Khadiya Riyadh, ended up in hospital as a result of numerous blows to all parts of the body. Among the wounded also the cartoonist Khalid Gueddar.
to reproducing the symptoms of a scenario to the "Tunisian" (notwithstanding the obvious differences in the case), in addition to the spread of popular uprisings in remote villages (a phenomenon already present in Morocco in recent years, as the examples of Sidi Ifni , Taghjijt, Boulemane Dades, cloak and Sefrou), is right to ascribe the three suicide attempts recorded in the same day on Monday 21. A woman set herself on fire in front of City Hall Sebt Souk (in the region of Sidi Kacem) after being driven from his shack in the slums of the city. The slums will be destroyed, as decided by the government plan which does not provide a solution for reimbursement for housing the displaced. Ben Guerir sacrificed himself by smearing a military station following her dismissal. The same way, Hocine Saeyieh tried to commit suicide in front of the headquarters of the province of Tan Tan, after the authorities had refused to let him inside the building.
(di seguito la mappa delle città toccate dalle proteste. Cliccando sul punto di interesse compariranno i filmati relativi)
(di seguito la mappa delle città toccate dalle proteste. Cliccando sul punto di interesse compariranno i filmati relativi)
P.S.: (r)umori dal Mediterraneo si scusa per non aver potuto seguire gli eventi in maniera più precisa e dettagliata, sia per la vastità del fenomeno sia perché siamo stati arrestati nella notte tra il 19 e il 20 febbraio dalla polizia di Casablanca. Trattenuti senza alcuna spiegazione in commissariato fino alle 9 del mattino, tra interrogatori sfiancanti, intimidazioni e minacce di espulsione, siamo stati rilasciati senza charges, but we continue to remain under close surveillance and see 24h/24h severely limited our freedom of movement.
James and Richard
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