rabat, morocco
AP
—
Morocco has charged more than 2,400 people over recent youth-led protests that turned violent, the country’s largest full-scale response to anti-government demonstrations in years.
Of the 2,480 people charged, 1,473 are currently in custody awaiting trial. Charges include armed insurrection, insulting and using force against public officials in the performance of their duties, and abetting a felony.
The demonstrations stunned Morocco after a youth-led movement called Generation Z 212 mobilized thousands of people across the country to protest against the current state of public services. The movement, organized on social media platforms such as Discord, criticized government spending on infrastructure to host sporting events while neglecting social services.
Organizers called for peaceful demonstrations, but protests turned violent in some cities and towns, leaving three people dead, scores injured and businesses and cars damaged. Human rights groups criticized the authorities’ heavy-handed approach against demonstrators, but prosecutors said the intervention was lawful.
The series of arrests has alarmed human rights groups and provided further support for demonstrators in recent protests, who held placards aimed at those arrested for participating in protests. The Moroccan Human Rights Association has condemned the arrests, calling them random, while Gen Z 212 has called for the release of all protest detainees.
“People seeking a fair chance for their future should not be met with lethal force or repression,” Hanan Salah, deputy director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement last week.
Those arrested include Moroccan rapper Hamza Raed, who was detained in Casablanca last month, and whose lyrics often touch on politics and vent the anger of young people.
Three of the defendants appeared before a presiding judge in the capital Rabat on Monday and were charged with inciting a felony and contempt of public authority for printing activist slogans on the uniforms of Morocco’s soccer team, their lawyers told The Associated Press. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.
In front of a crowded courtroom, lawyers applied for bail for their clients – two university students and a print shop employee – who said they had done little to justify their arrest but were at risk of harm.
Prosecutors said more than 400 people were convicted, with sentences ranging from one to 15 years. It added that 34 people were acquitted of all charges.
