EDITOR’S NOTE: A new released video shows that Mouhcine did not commit suicide. He was rather trapped after a municipality aid turned deliberately the grinder on. Check our latest article here: https://themoroccantimes.com/2016/10/21340/mohcine-fikri-did-not-commit-suicide-new-video-shows
Rabat, Morocco (TMT)- The suicide of a fish street vendor triggered a huge wave of protests yesterday night in the Moroccan city of Al Hoceima.
The official version goes that the man, by the name Mohcine Fikri, threw himself in the grinder of a municipality trash truck in a moment of despair after a Qaed and his aids (local authorities) confiscated his ware (important quantity of fish), killing himself instantly.
Yet, some locals dispute the official version. They stress that Mohcine was killed by the local aids who deliberately turned the grinder on at a moment when Mohcine threw himself in the container, as a form of protest against the thrashing of his fish, further noting that he was not aware that the container had a grinder.
People who took to the street organized a peaceful protest adjacent to the trash truck in question, blaming the authorities for the sad toll.
“He spent all his money and bought legally 5 tons of fish from the port, supervised by authorities, then once out of the port, they confiscated his ware and told him ‘selling this type of fish is illegal’,” one of the protesters said.
“How would you feel if you put yourself in his shoes? They sold him 5 tons of fish, then once out of the port, they confiscated it. That’s utmost humiliation and corruption,” a protester angrily said.
Protesters criticized the lack of job opportunities in the region and the unbearable life circumstances, especially the harassment and humiliation inflicted by the local authorities, for the sad toll and their daily sufferings.
“The Makhzen deliberately closed many factories in the region and young people are finding hard time to find jobs,” the man who was leading the protest said.
“Such events are the result of growing corruption and unreliable acts of humiliation by the Makhzen, acts we suffer from daily,” the man shouted.
“This situation has to change and they need to change this corrupt Makhzanian system, otherwise I don’t mind sacrificing my soul to reach this end, for a socially equitable and just Morocco,” one of protesters angrly shouted.
Towards 3 am, the head of the province and the King’s attorney came at the scene to sooth down the atmosphere and promised to lift the lid on the circumstances behind the death of Mohcine, yet the protesters did not take their words at face value, stressing that “we don’t have a problem with the laws of the justice system, rather with the application of the laws.”
The Moroccan Times.
