The first vice-president of the Asilah municipal council, Abdelaziz Jbari, declared on Monday, 27 February, that the quorum had been reached with the presence of the majority of councillors at the ordinary session for the month of February. In the absence of Mohamed Benaïssa, president of the municipal council, the councillors agreed to hold this session under the chairmanship of Mohamed Ghaïlan, the oldest of the members present. The president did not have an easy task managing the proceedings of this meeting in the presence of young and old people who had come in large numbers to attend. Mr Ghaïlan was interrupted several times by the public, even before the start of the examination of the first and most important point on the agenda, namely the 2011 administrative account. After reading the document relating to this first point and in response to the request of Zoubeir Bensaïdoun, a councillor representing the opposition, the president gave his agreement for a detailed examination of the numerical data. The discussions around the first sections of the administrative account, including those concerning the proceeds from the sale of confiscated goods and the taxes imposed on the operating revenues of the fish market, sparked lively protests among the public, some of whom are accustomed to organising sit-ins at the end of each municipal council session to protest "against the mismanagement of local affairs", according to the protesters.

The latter were unable, this time, to remain calm until the end of the said session. They quickly caused the disruption of the debates undertaken by the councillors and prevented the continuation of the work of this session. The attempts of the authorities, led by the Pasha of Asilah, did not succeed in restoring calm. This pushed the councillors to leave the room and the session of the month of February was postponed sine die. "The launch of the work of this session took place normally. All the councillors present showed their sense of responsibility during the debates, but unfortunately, a certain part of the public deliberately disrupted this session and engaged in verbal altercations with the president. This led to the adjournment of the work of this session," declared Mr Jbari to ALM. He added that the council will decide in a future meeting whether "the second session of the ordinary session of the month of February will be held behind closed doors or will be open to the public".

By: Najat Faïssal

DNCR in Tangier