Morocco’s youth protest for fourth night, decry World Cup spending over schools and hospitals

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Anti-government demonstrations gripped Morocco for a fourth straight night as youth filled the streets of cities throughout the country and destruction and violence broke out in several places.

With billions in investment flowing toward preparations for the 2030 World Cup, promises to fix Morocco’s strained social services haven’t quelled anger from internet-savvy youth who launched some of the country’s biggest street protests in years.

Young Moroccans took to the streets on Tuesday clashing with security forces and decrying the dire state of many schools and hospitals. After dozens of peaceful protesters were arrested over the weekend, violence broke out Tuesday in several cities, especially in parts of Morocco where jobs are scarce and social services lacking.

“The right to health, education and a dignified life is not an empty slogan but a serious demand,” the organizers of the Gen Z 212 protest movement wrote in a statement published on Discord. They cited King Mohammed VI, implored protesters to remain peaceful and blasted “repressive security approaches.”

Still, the protests have escalated and become more destructive, particularly in cities far from where development efforts have been concentrated in Morocco. Local outlets and footage filmed by witnesses show protesters hurling rocks and setting vehicles ablaze in cities and towns in the country’s east and south, including in Inzegane and Ait Amira.

In Oujda, eastern Morocco’s largest city, a police vehicle that rammed into demonstrators in Morocco left one person injured, local human rights groups and the state news agency MAP said.

Morocco’s Interior Ministry said the anonymously organized protests lacked authorization and were dealt with according to the law, noting that those found to be breaking the law would be treated “rigorously and firmly.” It said 409 people were taken into police custody.

Additionally, 263 members of law enforcement were injured during the nationwide protests that also damaged 142 of their vehicles. Twenty private cars also were damaged and 23 civilians were injured, the ministry said.

Oujda’s chapter of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) said that 37 protesters arrested on Monday, among them six minors, would appear in court in Oujda on Wednesday.

They’re among the hundreds that AMDH said have been apprehended, including many whose arrests were shown on video by local media and some who were detained by plainclothes officers during interviews.

“With protests scheduled to continue, we urge authorities to engage with the legitimate demands of the youth for their social, economic, and cultural rights and to address their concerns about corruption,” Amnesty International’s regional office said on Tuesday.

The “Gen Z” protests mirror similar unrest sweeping countries like Nepal and Madagascar. In some of Morocco’s largest anti-government protests in years, the leaderless movement has harnessed anger about conditions in hospitals and schools to express outrage over the government’s spending priorities.

Pointing to new stadiums under construction or renovation across the country, protesters have chanted, “Stadiums are here, but where are the hospitals?” Additionally, the recent deaths of eight women in public hospital in Agadir have become a rallying cry against the decline of Morocco’s health system.

The movement, which originated on platforms like TikTok and Discord popular among gamers and teenagers, has won additional backing since authorities began arresting people over the weekend, including from Morocco’s star goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and its most famous rapper El Grande Toto.

Officials have denied prioritizing World Cup spending over public infrastructure, saying problems facing the health sector were inherited from previous governments. In Morocco’s parliament, the governing majority said it would meet on Thursday to discuss healthcare and hospital reforms as part of a meeting headed by Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch.