The inauguration ceremony of the new headquarters of the Oujda Family Court was not a walk in the park for Mustapha Ramid. The court clerks of the Oujda Court of Appeal joined the party to express all the ill they think of the repressive methods and illegal decisions that the Minister of Justice and Liberties has chosen as his only rule of conduct. As with each of his official outings for any activity, Mustapha Ramid received on Monday a most turbulent welcome from the justice personnel who were in a sit-in.

Some protesters, mostly militants of the Democratic Justice Union (SDJ), the most representative union in the sector, were violently manhandled by elements of the security forces. The section secretary and member of the national bureau of the SDJ, Abderrahmane Sahmoudi, as well as Abdelouahab Kalaai, member of the local bureau in Oujda, were even injured.

Determined to counter any protest movement, these elements did not hesitate to confiscate the banners and placards of the clerks who were chanting slogans denouncing the fierce and unprecedented offensive on trade union freedoms led by the Minister of Justice against the secretariats-clerks and particularly the militants of the SDJ.

Starting with his incomprehensible decision to boycott any activity and break off all dialogue with the SDJ, the dismissal of the head of the secretariat-clerk of the Ksar Lakbir court, Fakhreddine Benhaddou, and the exclusion of the secretary-general of the said union, Abdessadek Saaidi, from the programme "Moubacharatan Maakoum".

The massive presence of the latter did not leave the litigants present on the scene indifferent, as they were there to express their dissatisfaction and explain their problems with the judicial system to the Minister.

It should be recalled that following these decisions, which only fuelled tension in the sector, and at the call of the national bureau of the SDJ, justice personnel will go on a 24-hour strike on Friday, 1 February, in the courts of the Kingdom. A peaceful national march will set off for this purpose from the Court of First Instance of Tangier to reach the place where a dialogue session on the so-called reform of justice is supposed to be held.