TAZA, Morocco, February 14, 2012 (AFP)
Six people have been jailed for taking part in rioting earlier this month during protests against high unemployment, while another seven were given suspended sentences, a court official said Tuesday.
Six were sentenced to 10 months in jail, and seven were given five months’ suspended sentences, the official said.
They were charged with “throwing stones at police, destroying public property and public disorder” in the wake of clashes which started on February 1 in this northeastern town.
Some 150 people were injured, cars were torched and public buildings ransacked during the clashes that pitted police against mainly unemployed youths.
“Dialogue is the only means to resolve such problems,” Communications Minister Mustapha Khelfi said at the time.
Taza is in one of the poorest parts of the north African kingdom, where such violence is sporadic.
About nine percent of the overall workforce is unemployed, with two in three people between 15 and 29 out of work.
