Hundreds of young people clashed with riot police in northern Morocco on 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 in the neglected Rif region of northern Morocco, where demonstrators have been demanding more development and railing against corruption, repression and unemployment.
Photo: Reuters
Demonstrators on the streets of Imzouren threw stones at officers, who in turn used water cannons and charged the protestors in a bid to disperse them and bring down their improvised barricades.
It was not immediately possible to confirm if any demonstrators or police had been injured in the clashes.
In the port city of al-Hoceima most shops were shuttered for the second day of a three-day general strike called by al-Hirak.
Al-Hoceima and surrounding areas have been shaken by social unrest since the death of 31-year-old fishmonger Mouhcine Fikri in October last year.
Fikri was crushed in a garbage truck as he protested against the seizure of swordfish that had been caught out of season.
Al-Hirak also urged supporters to boycott mosques on Friday, the main day of worship, and to pray instead on the streets as a form of protest against sermons sanctioned by the state.
Zefzafi was detained along with others on Monday for “attacking internal security,” after a warrant for his arrest issued on May 26 sparked turmoil in al-Hoceima, a city of 56,000 people.
He is also accused of having interrupted the sermon of an imam in the main mosque of the city, accusing him of inciting the congregation against the protest movement.
Correspondents said most mosques in al-Hoceima were full for the weekly prayer, except for one near Zefzafi’s house.
In Imzouren, residents worshiped on the street outside the mosque, according to footage posted online.
Zefzafi’s arrest has sparked angry, but mostly peaceful protests for more than a week, with thousands of people taking to the streets where security forces have been heavily deployed.
On Friday, protesters gathered on the streets of al-Hoceima for an eighth straight night, but their numbers were down on previous evenings.
Demonstrators chanted slogans such as “We are all Zefzafi” and the protest broke up at about midnight without incident.
Government spokesman Mustafa el-Khafli said authorities have detained about 40 people since May 26, 31 of whom are still under arrest, the official MAP news agency reported.
Core members of al-Hirak were among those arrested.
“The doors to dialogue remain open with civil society,” el-Khalfi was quoted as saying by MAP.
He said 700 sit-ins have taken place over the past seven months in the Rif, including 150 in al-Hoceima.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion