TNA Staff
The New Arab / April 13, 2024
Thousands of Moroccans marched in Rabat for the second week in a row to denounce Israel’s war on Gaza.
Thousands of Moroccans took to the streets of Rabat on Sunday for the second consecutive week, in a mass march denouncing Israel’s war on Gaza and Morocco’s normalisation of ties with Tel Aviv.
Despite rainy weather, demonstrators from across the country gathered early in the day in the capital’s historic Bab al-Had square, waving Palestinian and Moroccan flags, wearing keffiyehs, and holding signs condemning genocide and supporting “Palestinian resistance”.
The march, organised by the non-governmental National Action Group for Palestine under the slogan “Moroccans March Against Genocide and Normalisation”, proceeded through Mohamed V Avenue past Morocco’s parliament, before ending at Bab Rouah. Organisers described the event as “a cry from the nation against the extermination of Palestinians and a show of support for the resistance”, reiterating Morocco’s longstanding solidarity with Palestine as a national cause.
The demonstration drew support from a wide array of political, trade union, rights-based, and student organisations, including the Justice and Development Party, the Democratic Left Federation, the Moroccan Initiative for Support and Solidarity, the Moroccan Observatory Against Normalisation, the National Labour Union of Morocco, and various student unions and civil society coalitions.
Protesters chanted slogans such as: “All of us for steadfast Gaza”, “Resistance is a right, occupation is terrorism”, “No peace, no surrender – resistance to the end”, and “The people demand an end to normalisation”. Others condemned US foreign policy and shouted “America is the enemy of the people” and “Palestine is not for sale”.
Participants carried portraits of key Palestinian figures, including Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, late PLO leader Yasser Arafat, and Ismail Haniyeh, as well as Moroccan public figures who have faced backlash for their pro-Palestine stances. Placards also condemned the Israeli military campaign in Gaza as genocide and criticised the Moroccan government’s silence.
Speaking to The New Arab’s Arabic language edition, Al-Araby al-Jadeed, Khalid Sati, a parliamentary adviser and media official for the National Labour Union, called the march “the least we can do” in the face of what he described as a genocide committed with Western complicity and international silence.
Aziz Hennaoui, secretary general of the National Action Group for Palestine, denounced normalisation as “a dagger in the heart of Moroccan society”, adding that it violates the country’s history and moral legacy.
The protest also comes amid growing outrage over reports that Danish shipping giant Maersk is transporting F-35 fighter jet parts from US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin through Moroccan ports to Israel’s Nevatim Airbase.
The Moroccan Front for Supporting Palestine and Against Normalisation announced a protest outside Casablanca Port on 18 April, when a Maersk ship is scheduled to dock. A larger protest is also planned on 20 April under the slogan “No to genocide ships”.
