Thousands mourn 1st ‘martyr’ of Morocco’s Al-Rif demos

By Mohamed al-Tahiri

RABAT (AA) - Thousands of Moroccans on Wednesday evening attended a funeral in the northern city of Al-Hoceima for a young activist who succumbed to injures sustained while taking part in anti-government protests.

Located on the northern cusp of the Al-Rif Mountain Chain, Al-Hoceima -- along with several other Moroccan cities and towns -- has been rocked by protests by local youth demanding jobs and an end of perceived government corruption.

On several occasions, the demonstrations, which first erupted some 10 months ago, have been forcibly dispersed by security forces, leading to a number of injuries among protesters.

Imad al-Attabi, 21, who died of his injury on Tuesday, was the first demonstrator to be killed since the wave of protests began.

The demonstrations were initially sparked last October when a local fisherman, Mohsen Fikri, was crushed to death by a garbage truck in Al-Hoceima while protesting attempts by police to confiscate his fish.

Since then, at least 250 people have been arrested for demonstrating in Al-Rif, dozens of whom remain in detention.

- 'Deep state'

At al-Attabi’s funeral on Wednesday evening, which was accompanied by a heavy security presence, protestors chanted slogans against what they describe as Al-Makhzan, or Morocco’s “deep state”, which they held responsible for the young activist’s death.

An Arabic term, Al-Makhzan refers to a perceived network of influential people entrenched in Morocco’s political and economic institutions who are close to the royal palace and who protect palace interests.

In the immediate wake of al-Attabi’s passing this week, the Moroccan Public Prosecutor's Office announced it had launched an investigation into the circumstances of his death.

Al-Attabi was shot in the head on July 20 during a security crackdown in restive Al-Hoceima. Since then, he had remained in a coma until finally succumbing to his injury on Tuesday.

On the same day as al-Attabi’s funeral, dozens of people -- including opposition figures and human rights activists -- staged demonstrations outside parliament in capital Rabat to demand accountability for his murder.

“We’re here to express our outrage over the death of Imad al-Attabi, who was injured during the savage dispersal of a peaceful protest, which security forces turned into a massacre,” Abdel-Hamid Amin, former head of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, told Anadolu Agency during the protest.

Amin listed demonstrators’ demands as follows: accountability for the parties responsible for al-Attabi’s death; the release of all those detained for taking part in the protests; and the government’s abandonment of a strictly “security approach” to the ongoing demonstrations, which, Amin said, had led to the activist’s “martyrdom”.

The government, for its part, says it is working hard to address Al-Rif’s socio-economic problems, chalking them up to a general lack of development in the region.