TWO people were killed when officers opened fire on a group of people attempting to “storm” a police station in Morocco on Wednesday, state media said, as protests sometimes violent roil the North African nation.
Demonstrations have convulsed Morocco for several days, urged on by the GenZ 212 group, a recently formed collective based on the Discord web platform whose organisers remain unknown.
Morocco’s interior ministry said on Wednesday that more than 400 people had been arrested and nearly 300 injured during the rallies, which are demanding reforms to the public health and education sectors.
A group of people tried later that evening to “storm” a police station in Lqliaa, near the coastal city of Agadir, the government-owned MAP news agency reported, citing local officials.
Officers “were forced to use their service weapons, in legitimate self-defence, to repel (the) attack”, which aimed to “seize ammunition, equipment and service weapons”, MAP quoted the unnamed officials as saying.
The officials said police beat back an initial attack, but the group came at them again, wielding “bladed weapons”, MAP reported.
“During this attempt, two people died from gunshot wounds, while others were injured during their participation in the attack,” the officials said.
A judicial investigation into the incident had been opened, MAP reported.
Hundreds of protesters gathered on Wednesday in several Moroccan cities, including Casablanca, Tangier, and Tetouan.
The rallies were taking place with official authorisation for the first time since their initial outbreak on Saturday.
Demonstrators called for “the fall of corruption” as well as “freedom, dignity and social justice”, and some called for Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch to step down.
An AFP journalist in Sale, a city near the capital Rabat, witnessed people wearing hoods setting fire to police cars and a bank branch.
Local media also reported incidents of vandalism in Sidi Bibi near Agadir, and in small towns that GenZ 212 had not designated as protest sites.