The Moroccan daily Al Akhbar said that an “orange alert” was declared in all American restaurants in Morocco, especially in McDonald’s, as an anticipation measure of any possible terrorist attack.
The measure comes as a direct result of last Thursday’s speech of the Moroccan Interior Minister Mohamed Hassad before the council of government, where he stated that Morocco was under a real threat of terrorism.
As a matter of fact, Macdonald’s restaurants in Morocco are in a state of “orange alert” since Friday. The safety instructions are severe and all employees, especially the security staff of the American chain, were ordered to pay close attention to all customers surrounding the confines of the restaurants, especially to those who carry backpacks.
The security staff of the restaurants in question have been also ordered to close all the restaurants’ doors, at the exception of the main gate as to better monitor customers entering.
Those very strict instructions according to some informed sources quoted by Al Akhbar also concern objects that could be abandoned inside or nearby the restaurants.
In Morocco, the alert state is in one of its highest levels in all the regions of the country since the proclamation of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
As a matter of fact, the threats are linked to the increasingly returning-to-home Jihadists, after fighting in Iraq and Syria, the Moroccan government said earlier.
Control devices and security measures have been reinforced in vital locations belonging to private and public sector bodies throughout the Kingdom.
The Moroccan authorities have also just finished, last week, building a 40 Kms electronic fence that was erected from the Moroccan city of Saaidia to the Benni Hamdoune tribe, along the borders with Algeria, in order to prevent the returning terrorists from entering the country.
The Moroccan Times.
