Following the tragic events that the region of Béni Bouayach, Imzouren and Boukidarn experienced last week, the Moroccan Organisation for Human Rights (OMDH) released a press release in which it expresses its full solidarity with the inhabitants of this region, while reiterating the importance of peaceful demonstrations.

Regarding the latest demonstrations, falling within the framework of the marches organised by the 20 February Movement, the OMDH noted in its press release that the pace and forms of protest have been increasing since 8 March. Noting in this regard sit-ins organised on national road No. 2 linking Béni Bouayach and Taza and in front of the pachalik of Béni Bouayach.

Protest movements that led to the arrest of demonstrators, some of whom were released while others were presented before the Public Prosecutor. Without omitting that these events caused grumbling among traders who saw their activities deeply affected, we read in the press release.

The OMDH did not fail to raise the forceful intervention of law enforcement agencies who broke into numerous houses and used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. Knowing that stone-throwing caused injuries both among the demonstrators and among the members of law enforcement.

Faced with these dramatic events, the National Bureau of the OMDH, while expressing its solidarity with the citizens of this region, demands the release of all arrested persons and denounces all forms of violence perpetrated during these demonstrations.

The OMDH calls on the government to look into this file to resolve as a matter of urgency the structural problems from which the region suffers, taking into account a global and integrated vision. Which is based on the one hand on the urgent treatment of previous files relating to human rights violations in the region; and on the other hand on the development of a regional development plan taking into consideration the deficit that the region has known since independence in order to put an end to precariousness in the economic, social, cultural and regional territory governance domains, concludes the press release.