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Rabat – Another person was killed today in the mining town of Jerada, leading to a new wave of protests.
The victim, 36, was extracting coal from an illegal mine near Jerada when the walls of the mine collapsed, killing him.
Three others were seriously injured and transferred to the city’s provincial hospital.
Demonstrations are currently taking place in several areas of the city;a sit-in is also scheduled for this afternoon in the headquarters of the province, report local media.
On December 23, Houcine and Jedouane Dioui, aged 23 and 30 respectively, were crushed while mining the underground tunnels of a disused coal mine in the eastern city.
Their death triggered a movement, mimicking the beginning of the Hirak movement. Relatives of the victims, friends, and sympathizers have taken to the streets of the city, along 20,000 other demonstrators to “protest against injustices: the lack of infrastructure, the neglect of the authorities, and the low prospects of safe economic activity in the region.”
The protesters even adopted the slogans of the Hirak protest movement, which has stirred the neighboring Rif region
Jerada, located about sixty kilometers from Oujda, capital of the Oriental region, is known for its large coal mines, which employed more than 9,000 miners up until their closure in late 1998.
With few other options to make ends meet,, locals still work at the mines illegally, extracting coal and risking their lives.
