Rabat – The Moroccan Ministry of Interior responded to criticism and backlash surrounding their intervention during Morocco’s Gen Z demonstrations, stating that public security forces conducted operations during recent protests with careful management.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Rachid Khalfi, said on Wednesday that security intervention in Morocco aimed at maintaining public order to ensure citizens’ safety and public order.
He stressed that interventions were carried out in full compliance with legal frameworks, safeguarding individual and collective rights, and exercising restraint to prevent escalation.
This comes amid fierce criticism, especially following videos over the weekend showing police taking youth to police stations for their involvement in peaceful protests.
On Monday and Tuesday, rioting and vandalism overshadowed these peaceful protests in which youth are calling for basic rights, including good healthcare and quality education.
Some young people used knives and other weapons to cause damage to public and private businesses as well as to security services vehicles.
Khalfi said that police intervention sought to also prevent public disorder without posing any threat to citizens’ safety as part of the necessary measures to “safeguard individual and collective rights and freedoms.”
Backlash mounted online after a viral disturbing video shows a security service running over a protester in Oujda, who a security source says is in a stable condition.
The injured individual’s father, however, said that his son’s leg was amputated. He urged authorities to hold the driver accountable for his act.
