A kiss between two foreign actors, filmed on the bustling Place du 9 Avril in Tangier, has drawn sharp criticism in Morocco and led to a formal legal complaint.
What began as part of a film shoot quickly escalated into a national controversy, exposing deep divides over public morality, artistic boundaries, and national identity.
The scene, captured on video and widely shared online, shows the actors locked in a direct prolonged kiss.
The footage struck a nerve, as it marked what many perceived as a violation of public decency in a space that holds cultural and national significance.
Some opposed opinions argued that this undermines artistic creation as well as a certain sense of freedom.
According to converging media, on June 26, the Center for the Protection of Social Rights and Development Strategies filed an official complaint with the General Prosecutor in Rabat.
The organization described the filmed kiss as an attack on moral values and a breach of Moroccan law.
The group did not stop at condemning the act itself. It raised broader concerns, linking the scene to what it called “organized digital defamation campaigns” targeting Morocco’s international image.
In its complaint, the center pointed a finger at multiple actors: the Moroccan Cinematographic Centre (CCM), for validating a script it deemed unethical; the production company and its technical team; the foreign actors; and the Tangier municipality, which the group accused of failing to oversee public spaces properly during the filming.
Furthermore, the absence of security or local officials during the shoot, they argued, reflected official negligence.
The center called for a full investigation and firm legal consequences.
It also sent letters to the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Youth, and the National Human Rights Council. In these letters, it warned against the normalization of behavior it considered immoral and harmful to the country’s social fabric.
Under Moroccan law, acts deemed offensive to public decency, including public displays of affection such as kissing in public spaces, can be prosecuted under Article 483 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes “indecent acts or gestures committed publicly.”
Such behavior is considered a violation of moral and social norms, especially when performed in symbolic or highly frequented locations, and can lead to legal consequences including fines or imprisonment.
