Hundreds of police have armored the center of Rabat and arrested dozens of young people who had gone to demonstrate this Saturday afternoon for a better health y educationmore job opportunities, in addition to ending corruption. Protests and arrests have been repeated in several cities of the country, especially in CasablancaTangier, Agadir and Marrakechin addition to the capital. The call had been launched by the group GENZ212which are presented as the country’s Z generation and gather thousands of followers in networks: “It is only the beginning of a Pacific fighting path, in our determination to achieve legitimate demands,” they declared after the demonstrations, while again convening more protests.
“The educational and health system has to be renovatedwe claim our freedom of expression and the end of repression, we do not ask for impossible things, ”explains one of the participants in the center of Rabat, also regrets the police reaction:” We have not blocked the streets, nor destroyed anything, we have come to express ourselves in a normal and peaceful way. “
The protests and arrests in Rabat extended until Saturday night.jpg / Marc Ferrà
In Rabat alone, according to the Moroccan association for human rights, there were more than 70 detaineeswhich have been released during the night. The majority have occurred when young people tried to approach Parliament of the country. Once scattered, some smaller groups have tried, even shouting their proclamations, but within a few seconds the police reacted to move them away or detain the participants. Currently, the number of total people detained throughout the country is unknown, although, as it has transcended, many of them have been released within a few hours. The authorities have not provided any information.
“We ask social justice”
“In our Constitution there is an article that defends our Right of expression”, Said one of the young people, while regretting that they are stopping the people who talk to the press. A few seconds, the police arrive and start running, dozens of meters further speak again to the television micros:“ We do not know why they want to stop us, we did not expect it. I am not afraid to say what many activists have already said, there has come a time to impas. We ask social justice And transparency, something we don’t see today. ”
Another recurring slogans has been to criticize the great projects to build soccer fields or large infrastructure for the World Cup 2030: “What do we need, a soccer or hospitals field?” It has been heard in the protests. “Hospitals are not well equipped, on the other hand, football fields are equipped with the latest technology. The difference is clear,” said another young man, who was arrested that same afternoon. The protesters have insisted, on several occasions, that their demands are based on the Constitution From the country, they also regret that from certain circles it is tried to “distort” and “discredit” their messages to weaken their proclamations, focused on social improvements in areas such as education, health or fight against corruption.
These messages remember many in Morocco to February 20 Movementthat in 2011 he took to the streets to claim more rights, in full wave of protests for the Arab spring. Among the protesters, one of the main slogans that more than ten years ago took thousands of people into the street: “Freedom, Dignity and Social Justice”Although the 2011 protests were repressed on many occasions, the authorities moved to record the tension. Mohamed we He delivered a televised speech in which he promised a new Constitution, which was approved months later.
Young people who protest also demand the end of corruption in Morocco / Marc Ferrà
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights has denounced “arbitrary arrests“E” Unprecedented repressive and violent interventions “by the authorities of the” Pacific “protests. They also consider that it is a” flagrant violation “of the right of demonstration and expression. Also different youth organizations, some of political parties, have published a statement condemning the wave of arrests. Among the detainees they explain that there were different militants, in addition to the secretary general of the Federation of the Federation of the Federation of the Federation. Democratic. Other opposition parties have also denounced the response of the authorities.
Increased protests
This manifestation and discontent They have cooked over low heat, on the one hand, an increase in protests against different hospitals in recent weeks. One of the most important, two weeks ago in the city of Agadirdozens of citizens concentrated to denounce the death of eight women in a week after receiving lower doses of analgesics when they were admitted to the maternity department, according to the activists and reported the local press. They also took to the street, at the beginning of the month, those affected by the earthquake in the Atlas Moroccan to claim solutions for those affected who have not received help two years later. At that time one of the slogans was also: “Where have the earthquake money gone to the music festivals and soccer fields.”
On the other hand, there is a Young generationwhich have been organized through networks as a meeting point to share their discomfort and frustration. A generation that, despite being one with a higher figure of diplomas universitycomplaint that he does not find his place in the labor market: 37% of people between 15 and 23 are unemployed. In addition, more than 25 % of Moroccan young people of the same age are in a situation as Neet (neither study, work nor receive training), that is, 1.5 million young people in the country, according to official data.
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