This post is part of our special coverage Morocco Protests 2011.
Inspired by the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, Moroccans have been taking to the streets since last February 2011, demonstrating week in, week out, calling for a reform of the constitution and for the establishment of a democratic parliamentary system. Peaceful marches were held on Sunday, March 20th, across the kingdom. Minutes of the marches were followed on the Internet via Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. Here's some of what bloggers have been sharing from start to finish:
Veteran Moroccan blogger Larbi, live-blogged the marches [Fr]. He writes:
09h50 A Rabat, il fait beau et les manifestants commencent à se rassembler à Bab El Had. Premières photos via Riad:
In Casablanca tens of thousands marched orderly on the city's main streets. Nadia Lamlili shares her thoughts as she arrives at the demonstration:
J ai jamais vu une marche aussi bien organisée. J ai la chaire de poule
Politiconaute is also impressed. He tweets:
On s'applaudit nous meme… Lakada kousira hajiz lkhaouf… #20mars #20fev
Houda (@Houdac) shares her pictures of the march in Casablanca:
Some of the slogans chanted during the Casablanca march:
As the day advances, something is remarkably absent: police intervention. Nadia Lamlili tweets:
@nadialamlili : La police dans les rues perpendiculaires observe de loin. Une marche dans la dignite
On the media, people started speculating about the number of marchers. @m20fev shared this picture on Twitter adding the following comment:
الدار البيضاء الان hado galik 3000, wa baz??
Videos of the marches started pouring in on social networks from different parts of the country. Overall, demonstrations continued peacefully.
In this video from Marrakech, posted by marouane82, people chat “We want to bring the government down! We want the parliament dissolved!”:
And here, marchers in the city of Kenitra chant “The people want to bring corruption down!” (video posted by mesbahih):
From the city of Meknes this video posted by special20fevrier:
From the city of Fez, this video shows people chanting “My rights are running in my veins, no matter what they do to me” (posted online by mostouz):
Finally this rather shaky footage from the city of Casablanca showing tens of thousands marching orderly in the streets (posted by kafkatim):
This post is part of our special coverage Morocco Protests 2011.
3 comments
Not just the privilege, all Moroccan must participate in Building Morocco for Moroccan.
Governing by fear must be irradiated, police state mentality is inhuman, and I speak from personal experience when I was in Tangiers Morocco.