HIBAPRESS – Abdellatif Baraka
The city of Taroudant witnessed serious riots on Wednesday night after masked elements infiltrated popular protests, where a number of rioters committed acts of vandalism that affected public facilities and vital services in the city, in actions described as "criminal" by civil and human rights activists.
Local sources reported that the protesters stormed the Regional Hospital Al-Mokhtar Soussi, which caused a state of panic inside its corridors, before they proceeded to pelt the Taroudant municipality headquarters with stones, causing significant material losses. The escalation reached its peak when a group of troublemakers headed towards the headquarters of the provincial governorate, where they set fire to the gate of the institution in an attempt to storm it, in a dangerous behavior that observers considered an unprecedented development in protest methods, and a clear shift towards violence and sabotage. These attacks sparked a wave of condemnation among citizens, who expressed their outright rejection of such unlawful behaviors, and civil and human rights organizations condemned what happened, stressing the need to distinguish between legitimate peaceful protest and acts of vandalism that harm public property and threaten public security. The same bodies demanded the opening of an urgent investigation to hold those involved in these actions accountable, and to impose legal penalties on anyone proven to be involved in sabotage or incitement to it, calling for reason and dialogue instead of violence and chaos. These events raise urgent questions about their backgrounds and the parties that may be behind the exacerbation of the situation, at a time when several regions of the Kingdom are experiencing social protests demanding the improvement of living conditions, but without slipping to this level of violence.
