Green Energy
Newsmax:
Thousands March in Morocco to Seek Reform
Sunday, 20 Feb 2011
RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Thousands of people marched in cities across Morocco on Sunday, demanding a new constitution to bring more democracy in the North African kingdom amid the wave of Arab world upheaval.
Demonstrators shouted slogans calling for economic opportunity, educational reform, better health services and help in coping with rising living costs during the march on central Hassan II Avenue in the capital Rabat.
The day of demonstration was Morocco's entree into the series of protests that have swept up North Africa and the wider Arab world after popular uprisings brought down longtime autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt.
The main target of Sunday's rallies was parliament, where many Moroccans fear their voices are not heard. Still, the protests are likely to pressure King Mohammed VI — who has been seen as a reformer compared to his iron-fisted father, Hassan II — but who still holds absolute authority.
A sea of white banners covered Casablanca's rain-splattered Mohammed V square, where young men in baseball caps and hoods joined young women in Islamic headscarves and middle aged women in black-rimmed glasses and earrings in the diverse crowd.
Plainclothes police mingled among the demonstrators in Rabat, though police were generally discreet. There were no immediate reports of clashes between protesters and police.
The self-styled "February 20 movement" — apparently not for any particular historic reason — was largely summoned through social media like Facebook.
But the open call to demonstrate also caused confusion, as disparate political and religious groups elbowed their way in and sought to reshape a protest movement to serve their own ends.
One youth-led group initially behind the call to march — whose name translates as the Freedom and Democracy Now Movement — canceled its plan to take part on Saturday, saying the movement was hijacked by leftist political parties and Islamists seeking to infuse ideology and faith issues.
The official news agency, MAP, cited a "weak turnout" — including at 2,000 both in Rabat and the northeastern city of Beni Bouayach, 1,000 in Casablanca, Al Hoceima and Targuist, and 900 in the highly touristic city of Marrakech.
An Associated Press reporter in Rabat estimated the turnout there at 3,000 to 5,000. Organizers put the turnout outside the parliament building at 20,000.
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Green Energy
Newsmax:
Thousands March in Morocco to Seek Reform
Sunday, 20 Feb 2011
RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Thousands of people marched in cities across Morocco on Sunday, demanding a new constitution to bring more democracy in the North African kingdom amid the wave of Arab world upheaval.
Demonstrators shouted slogans calling for economic opportunity, educational reform, better health services and help in coping with rising living costs during the march on central Hassan II Avenue in the capital Rabat.
The day of demonstration was Morocco's entree into the series of protests that have swept up North Africa and the wider Arab world after popular uprisings brought down longtime autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt.
The main target of Sunday's rallies was parliament, where many Moroccans fear their voices are not heard. Still, the protests are likely to pressure King Mohammed VI — who has been seen as a reformer compared to his iron-fisted father, Hassan II — but who still holds absolute authority.
A sea of white banners covered Casablanca's rain-splattered Mohammed V square, where young men in baseball caps and hoods joined young women in Islamic headscarves and middle aged women in black-rimmed glasses and earrings in the diverse crowd.
Plainclothes police mingled among the demonstrators in Rabat, though police were generally discreet. There were no immediate reports of clashes between protesters and police.
The self-styled "February 20 movement" — apparently not for any particular historic reason — was largely summoned through social media like Facebook.
But the open call to demonstrate also caused confusion, as disparate political and religious groups elbowed their way in and sought to reshape a protest movement to serve their own ends.
One youth-led group initially behind the call to march — whose name translates as the Freedom and Democracy Now Movement — canceled its plan to take part on Saturday, saying the movement was hijacked by leftist political parties and Islamists seeking to infuse ideology and faith issues.
The official news agency, MAP, cited a "weak turnout" — including at 2,000 both in Rabat and the northeastern city of Beni Bouayach, 1,000 in Casablanca, Al Hoceima and Targuist, and 900 in the highly touristic city of Marrakech.
An Associated Press reporter in Rabat estimated the turnout there at 3,000 to 5,000. Organizers put the turnout outside the parliament building at 20,000.
- Obama's Army On The March?
Wall Street protests spread to other cities From Will at The Other News: Protests inspired by "Occupy Wall Street" movement have emerged in Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Members of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement have vowed to stay through...
-
Biggest rally in Israel's history presses PM By Ari Rabinovitch TEL AVIV Sat Sep 3, 2011 5:56pm EDT TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands marched Saturday for lower living costs in the largest such rally in Israel's history, bolstering...
-
Thousands of police confront protesters in Yemen By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press Wed Feb 16, 10:42 am ET .SANAA, Yemen – Authorities flooded the streets of Yemen's capital with 2,000 police Wednesday to try to halt six days of Egypt-style demonstrations...
- Morocco: "christian Proselitism Is Terrorism", Ulemas Say
Image via Wikipedia Read at El País: 7,000 Moroccan ulemas (Islamic scholars) rejected in a common message the Christian proselitism in their country and considered it even like "moral rape" and "religious terrorism" as it"tries to divert Moroccan...
- Morocco Names 50 Female Muslim Preachers
Morocco is making a somewhat noble attempt to moderate Islam: RABAT, Morocco - Fifty women have graduated as Muslim preachers, part of a concerted effort by authorities in Morocco to promote moderate Islam in a country grappling with extremism. Another...