Rabat – A video has gone viral on Moroccan social media showing teenagers in the El Karia neighborhood of Sale playing with banned firecrackers on September 9, the evening before the Ashura festival.
The video could easily be mistaken for footage from a warzone instead of the streets of Sale, with the streets lit up with the flare of the firecrackers and loud noise flooding through the streets.
Similar scenes are common across Morocco the evening before Ashura, and injuries often occur. Last year, one neighborhood boy died in Derb Ghallef, a suburb of Casablanca, after being injured by a firecracker.
Despite the death and the ban of firecrackers in Morocco, the dangerous trend has continued for another year.
Ashura marks the tenth day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar, a day of great significance for Muslims worldwide.
Sunni Muslims, the majority in Morocco, celebrate the day as a way to commemorate the anniversary of God creating a path in the Red Sea to liberate Moses and his followers from Pharaoh 622 AD.
