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Rabat – After refusing to break his silence to talk about the violent intervention of security forces against Al Hoceima protesters, Minister of State in charge of human rights, Mustafa Ramid, avoided giving his take on the issue saying that his role as minister was to work in the field and not to talk.
“I will choose the appropriate time when I want to talk and not the time that journalists set,” said Ramid, who thronged by journalists following the end of the meeting of the General Secretariat of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) on Thursday evening.
Ramid did, however, recognize the importance of the situation, adding “I will talk soon.”
Serious criticism has been leveled against Ramid, who was the Minister of Justice and Liberties in the former government led by Abdelilah Benkirane.
Condemnations have come following the heavy presence of security forces in Al Hoceima, the increase in the detention of protesters, and the acute indignation felt over the “violent” intervention of security forces to disperse protesters after Eid Al Fitr prayers on Monday.
The intervention came one day after King Mohammed VI chaired a Council of Ministers and expressed his “disappointment and discontent” about the delay of the implementation of the social development projects in the city.
When it was revealed that the detained activists would not be released ahead of Eid Al Fitr and were not among the beneficiaries of the holiday’s traditional royal pardon, families of the prisoners and other Al Hoceima inhabitants poured into the city’s streets as soon as prayers ended to express their dismay and repeat their calls for the release of the detained, as well as for socio-economic inclusion.
Protests in Al Hoceima erupted after the October 2016 death of fishmonger, Mouhcine Fikri, who was fatally crushed in a trash compactor while trying to retrieve fish discarded by authorities. Tensions and the subsequent demonstrations have intensified over the past month following the arrest of the protest movement’s leading activist, Nasser Zafzafi.
