RABAT // Thousands of Moroccans held protests in several cities on Sunday after a fishmonger in the northern town of Al Hoceima was crushed to death inside a rubbish truck as he tried to retrieve fish confiscated by police.
The rallies were called by activists from the February 20 movement, which organised demonstrations during the Arab Spring unrest of 2011.
In an effort to calm tensions, King Mohamed, who is currently on a tour of Africa, ordered the interior minister to visit the victim’s family and present royal condolences.
The interior and justice ministries also promised an investigation.
Such large-scale protests are rare in Morocco, where the king still holds ultimate sway. Morocco calmed the 2011 protests with reforms, spending and tougher security while leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were swept from power.
“I have never seen such a crowd in the last few years, since 2011 at least,” said Houssin Lmrabet, an activist from the town of Imzouren where thousands took part in the funeral of the victim, Mouhcine Fikri, and the protests that followed.
“Everyone feels crushed by that garbage truck here.”
Fikri’s fish was confiscated by police on Friday after he bought it at the port and thrown into a rubbish truck. A human-rights activist said the confiscated fish was swordfish, sales of which are currently banned.
According to local media and authorities, Fikri then jumped into the rubbish truck in a desperate attempt to recover the fish but was caught inside the crusher.
Protests were held in Al Hoceima and other towns in the Rif region, which has long been seen as a hotbed of dissent, as well as in Casablanca and the capital, Rabat.
Fikri’s death has echoes of how Tunisia’s uprising began in 2011, when a young man set himself on fire in desperation because police confiscated fruit and vegetables he was selling.
Activists accused police officers of ordering rubbish collection men to crush Fikri, but the Moroccan police denied those accusations on Sunday.
* Reuters, with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
