Monday, February 21, 2011

Souhail Karam
Reuters

RABAT: Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Morocco Sunday demanding King Mohammad VI give up some of his powers, dismiss the government and clamp down on corruption.

In the capital Rabat, some people in the crowd waved Tunisian and Egyptian flags in recognition of the popular uprisings that overthrew the two countries’ presidents. At least 5,000 people marched across central Rabat, according to Reuters reporters.

Uniformed police kept their distance from the protest but plain-clothes officers with notebooks mingled with the crowd amid chants of “The people reject a constitution made for slaves!” and “Down with autocracy!”
Some called on the fragile coalition government of Prime Minister Abbas al-Fassi to leave. Placards and slogans made no direct attacks on the king although one criticized the influence of firms in which his family is the biggest investor.

Analysts say Morocco, a Western ally with a reformist monarch and growing economy, is one of the Arab countries least likely to succumb to the violent unrest sweeping the region.
“This is a peaceful protest to push for constitutional reform, restore dignity and end graft and the plundering of public funds,” said Mustapha Muchtati of the Baraka group, which helped organize the march.
“Baraka” means “enough” in colloquial Moroccan Arabic.

The protest was initiated by a group calling itself the February 20 Movement for Change, which has attracted 20,000 followers on the social networking website Facebook, a figure officials allege included sympathizers of the Polisario Front that seeks independence in the disputed Western Sahara.

The protesters were joined by youths of the banned Islamist Justice and Charity opposition group, members of opposition parties and Berber militants. The main press union and human-rights groups also voiced support for the protest.

Mohammad al-Aouni, of the February 20 Movement for Change organizing committee, said younger protesters wanted to stage daily sit-ins. “We have not yet agreed on the next step. Some suggest weekly protests,” he said.
City buses were taken out of service, preventing some people from taking part. “We wanted to spare buses potential damage,” a government official said.

Demonstrations also took place in Morocco’s other main cities, including Marrakesh, the top tourist destination.
Aouni said the smaller protest in Marrakesh had been “violently dispersed by police using long truncheons. The protesters gave up to avoid escalation,” he said. Officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
The government official said a protest in Casablanca drew only a few hundred people, while Aouni put the figure at about 10,000. Independent estimates were not immediately available.

Morocco is officially a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. But the constitution empowers the king to dissolve the legislature, impose a state of emergency and have a key say in government appointments including the prime minister.

“Demands for constitutional reform have been around for decades,” political commentator Ali Anozla said.
“But this is the first time this demand has been embraced by apolitical youths, Moroccans from leftists to Islamists and Berber militants. A barrier of fear has been overcome today.”

King Mohammad’s cousin, Prince Moulay Hicham al-Alaoui, an academic at Stanford University in the United States, voiced his support for the demonstrations.
“I’m for any initiative that calls for democratizing our political system, provided it is done peacefully and with tolerance. It appears that this movement fulfills these conditions and so I support it,” he told France 24 television. – With AFP