The start of work on transforming the multidisciplinary library, located within the grounds of the Moulay Abdelaziz mosque in Laâyoune, has sparked a vast protest movement. Indeed, this library, recently renovated and equipped by the Southern Agency, is to be transformed to house an association managing a primary school, adopting the French mission curriculum, with classes starting at the next school year. The library and its courtyard are part of a complex including shops within the mosque's grounds, therefore falling under the public domain. The new tenants plan to erect a new fence separating their establishment from the complex. The protesters believe that this is contradictory to the law, which makes properties belonging to the Habous public goods that should benefit everyone.

They declare that no one could have imagined that one day, this mosque, which is one of the oldest in Laâyoune, would be dispossessed of part of its domain for the benefit of a foreign mission. It should be noted that some citizens had planned to organise a protest march last Friday, but during the hearing he granted them, the Wali promised to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible. The protesters, who have formed a Coordination for the Protection of the Mosque, believe that this is a provocation that ignores the feelings of the citizens. They will not give up their march if the construction site is not suspended. The Coordination, which includes associative actors, elected officials and notables, has published a press release, a copy of which Libé has received, stressing that they do not rule out continuing their protest.