Thirty Injured in Anti-Israeli Demonstrations in Morocco

Published October 8th, 2000 - 02:00 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

About 30 demonstrators were injured, three of which had serious injuries, in Casablanca Sunday, as police broke up an unauthorized anti-Israeli demonstration by thousands of protestors in Casablanca. 

On the other hand, an authorized demonstration attended by tens of thousands passed off peacefully in the capital Rabat. 

Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters, some of whom retaliated by throwing stones, injuring two police in the clashes in Casablanca's working-class Derb Soltane district. 

Members of the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party were seen at the demonstration despite a communiqué issued by the party leadership on Saturday saying that its members would not go ahead with the demonstration after failing to obtain permission. 

In Rabat, tens of thousands of people representing most political groupings and several non-governmental organizations marched through the main streets in an authorized demonstration called by the Moroccan Association of Support for the Palestinian Struggle (AMSLP). 

The march was also supported by Islamist associations including the largest, Al Adl Wa al-Ihssane. 

Demonstrators burned Israeli flags while waving Palestinian and Iraqi flags, shouting slogans denouncing the killing of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers. 

Banners read "Palestine for Palestinians and Jerusalem for Muslims." 

Clashes in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip have claimed 88 lives including 75 Palestinians, 10 Arab Israelis and three Israelis. 

The unrest was set off by a visit by right-wing Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the hotly disputed al-Aqsa mosque compound, a site known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City on September 28 -- CASABLANCA, Morocco (AFP) 

 

 

© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

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