In mid-September, protests erupted in the Moroccan city of Agadir against the deterioration of health services, after eight pregnant women died due to medical negligence and a lack of basic equipment at Hassan II Regional Hospital.
One of the protests, organised by Agadir residents, saw an explosion of sympathy and grief spread among Moroccans after a baby girl in critical condition was brought to the protest by her uncle. The hospital had refused to treat her for a huge tumour on her back – despite her clear need for urgent medical intervention.
Images of the suffering infant caused outrage across Morocco, particularly among young people after the story spread fast on social media. Across platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and Discord, the debate shifted to the need for collective action to defend the economic and social rights of ordinary Moroccans. Furious young people invoked the example of the "Gen Z Revolution" in Nepal, where the government was toppled earlier in September this year by protestors.
From screens to the street
Discord, a digital platform commonly used by video gamers, has seen increased activity by a youth group calling itself "GenZ 212". Notably, it's the same platform which was used by Nepalese youth to mobilise people to join the movement.
Moroccans have also taken on the name ("GenZ") and the mobilisation method inspired by the Nepalese. Like the South Asian protestors before them, participants in this youth initiative are concealing their names and any identifying information, fearful of discovery by the security services, whose repressive tactics have escalated in recent years due to the ever-growing role of intelligence agencies in Morocco's political scene.
The group, whose main members remain unknown, initially called for peaceful protests across Morocco on September 27 and 28. The group, which has no discernable structure and isn't affiliated with any ideological or political orientation, focused on three demands: reform of the health and education sectors, and combating rampant corruption in state institutions.
Hundreds of young Moroccans responded to GenZ 212's call, taking to the streets in scenes reminiscent of the February 20 Movement uprising in 2011. Despite the difference in context, as the Arab Spring had a regional dimension extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf, and the "GenZ Movement" is characterised by a more globalised struggle, the slogans chanted in the streets during the protests chimed closely with those of 2011.
As he was arrested, one protester shouted: "Long live the people" - a slogan adopted by the February 20 Movement in opposition to "Long live the king". Other chants heard included "Freedom, dignity, social justice"; "The people want to bring down corruption" and "The people want to bring down tyranny". However, the core slogan chanted in Moroccan streets over recent days has revolved around the phrase: "Health first, we don't want the World Cup".
Against a backdrop of extreme poverty and widespread unemployment (21.9% among those aged 25 to 34), the Moroccan government has allocated 20 billion dirhams (around $2 billion) to develop and build football stadiums in preparation for the 2030 World Cup. Total government spending on the World Cup has been estimated at $5 billion.
Further exacerbating the frustrations of ordinary Moroccans have been suspicions of corruption and conflicts of interest surrounding the prime minister and his cabinet members, most notably Fouzi Lekjaa, the government's budget minister who has also been tasked by the king with implementing the "World Cup project".
The same minister "oversaw" the disbursement of $12 billion to rebuild areas destroyed by the Al Haouz earthquake that struck Morocco on September 8, 2023. However, to date, most of the earthquake victims are still living in dilapidated tents. The funds appear to have been withdrawn from the state treasury without ever having reached the population, which has also unsurprisingly sparked widespread discontent among Moroccans.
Repressive security
Morocco's security forces have dealt brutally with the peaceful protesters, beating, kicking and dragging them across the ground, and hundreds of arbitrary arrests have been carried out. In the capital, Rabat, alone, 148 young men and women have been arrested, most of them students or university graduates. In fact, Amnesty International already condemned the crackdown on protesters, while the Moroccan Association for Human Rights has documented what it calls "serious violations".
In many of the cities where protests took place, police cars quickly filled with detained protestors. One video posted on YouTube showed the moment police were unable to find a means of transport for two detainees, and an officer is heard telling colleagues that all their cars were "full".
Other videos show the extent of the violence used during arrests, including against women, who attended the demonstrations in large numbers denouncing "corruption and tyranny" with unparalleled courage. During her arrest by security forces, one young woman shouted: "Down with the ruling mafia!" while another shouted: "We want to live in dignity!"
However, the security forces haven't stopped at conducting arrests, as well as verbally and physically assaulting protestors. Late on September 30, a National Security vehicle in the eastern Moroccan city of Oujda deliberately ran over a group of protesters, seriously injuring 19-year-old Amin Bousaada who then had to have his left leg amputated.
Amin, a student at Mohammed I University's science faculty, felt he had no choice but to join the peaceful protests against the deteriorating social situation. As well as his university studies, Amin supported his impoverished family by working as a street vendor - the same job held by Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi, whose tragic death sparked the Arab Spring in late 2010.
According to Amin's father, his son's "left leg was amputated from the knee," and his right leg may also need to be amputated if doctors cannot treat it quickly.
On the evening of October 1, the Moroccan authorities announced the deaths of two people and the injury of others, with varying degrees of severity, by Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie gunfire in Lqliaa, near Agadir. According to official accounts, some demonstrators attempted to storm the gendarmerie headquarters to "seize ammunition, equipment, and weapons."
Riots
Following the excessive security crackdown used to disperse the crowds and arrest the protestors, there have been sporadic instances of violence between citizens and security forces particularly in some small villages and towns on the outskirts of major cities. Masked individuals in the Ait Amira region attacked police vehicles and set fire to some of them on the evening of September 30. Similar incidents unfolded in Inzegane, a coastal city near Agadir and other cities.
In response to these incidents, GenZ 212 affirmed its peaceful nature and condemned any acts of violence. At an online meeting held on October 2 by the group on Discord, the main conclusions were GenZ 212's rejection of the violence perpetrated by unknown masked individuals on the one hand, as well as of the repression imposed by the security and intelligence services on the other. In the group's view, the security establishment was playing a repressive role which was inflaming the streets and putting the country on a dangerous trajectory.
One comment raised at the meeting was the suggestion that the violence by masked individuals could have been orchestrated by the authorities themselves, with the aim of creating a pretext to suppress the movement and arrest and imprison its members on hefty, fabricated charges. This already happened with the peaceful Rif movement in 2017, when its leader Nasser Zefzafi, was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
What is important to note, is that the violent riots have typically erupted late at night, after the scheduled end of the demonstrations, which are often being heavily suppressed at their onset - lending some credence to these suspicions.
Ultimately, the absence of an official interlocutor from among the Moroccan authorities is placing the country on the brink of collapse.
On the one hand, the government which is led by billionaire Aziz Akhannouch, has avoided addressing the people, or even explaining the causes of the economic crisis ravaging the country. On the other hand, the royal palace – the real ruling body - is not communicating with Moroccans to reassure them in any way, given the king's illness and his prolonged and repeated absences from the country. It appears that only the "security coalition" - as the king's cousin, Prince Hicham Alaoui calls it – is currently being instrumentalised to manage the 'crisis' engulfing the country.
Abdellatif El Hamamouchi is an investigative journalist and political science researcher from Morocco. He is a member of the Central Office of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights. He writes for The Intercept, Open Democracy, and Sada- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is also the author of Moncef Marzouki: His Life and Thought, co-written with Maati Monjib and published by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha.
Follow him on Twitter: @AHamamouchi
Article translated from Arabic.
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